A Brutal Truth
by BIG Z1776
Summary: What are the chances of a technical screw-up bringing Earth and the Colonies together? Not very high, at least that's what Lt. Kelsey Adama thought. Yet, here she is, on the brink of history where two supposedly long lost tribes of man are reunited. But when both sides have not seen one another for thousands of years and one has no intention of playing by the rules things get messy
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is actually something I've had on my mind for a very long time, and I have been waiting to write a story like this since I read the stories in this category like Fallen, Pale Blue Dot, Reunions are a Deleted, and This Should Never Have Happened. I've had a versus scenario in my head for about six months but my own RvB stories have just gotten my attention fixated on them for the longest time but with the RvB offseason really getting me dulled out on RvB for a little while I decided to try this on for size before I went for the big daddy "12 Colonies vs Earth Story" but if you guys think this story is promising I might throw a monkey wrench into the mix.**

**This will have OC's, one in particular that I'd like to explain first. What if Commander Adama had a daughter on the **_**Galactica**_** with him? And what if she went missing on…oh I don't know a planet that a certain planet uses as an Alpha Site? What then?**

**Now the setting, this will take place about three years after the events of SGU wrap up for the Stargate part of the story (No disclosure), and will be about a month or two before the events of the Cylon Attack on the Colonies, I probably won't even acknowledge the Cylons as major players until later.**

**That's what this story is about. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 1**

Location: Battlestar Galactica

Time: 1300 Lima 

Date: (Earth Calendar) May 12, 2014

"Lieutenant Adama to the Ready Room, Lieutenant Adama to the Ready Room," the crackly speakers of the Battlestar _Galactica_ droned out rhythmically.

Immediately the call was answered by the young pilot in question. Twenty year old Kelsey Adama had been waiting for her first mission for a very long time since being assigned to her father's old Battlestar, the _Galactica_. She had asked for this assignment so that she could serve under her father just once before he retired. She wasn't the most intimidating pilot on the _Galactica_'s roster at barely five feet ten inches. Her light brunette hair was cut just above her shoulders and was still showing off the platinum blonde highlights the more veteran pilots had dyed into her bangs as a prank on the new rookie. Her thin frame was a meager hundred and forty-five pounds without her gear and flight suit. The young pilot scrambled into her flight suit and charged headlong out of her barracks and into the hall where dozens of other crewmembers were milling around, going to and from wherever it was they were supposed to be. Her own rather attractive features, coupled with the platinum highlights in her hair, drew attention as she ran full tilt into the hall.

"Headed somewhere rook?" one of the other pilots said as she charged by him.

"Yep! First mission!" Kelsey replied, throwing the information back to him as she rounded a few more corners.

It didn't take all that long before she was in the Ready Room where her ECO, Lt. Buck "Eyeball" Drew was standing in front of Galactica's CAG, getting briefed.

"Ah, there's the rook, you got here pretty quick Lightbulb," Eyeball called using her call sign (which she hated), smiling as the young officer panted and saluted the CAG.

"Lieutenant Adama reporting as ordered sir!" Kelsey said loudly, snapping off a crisp salute.

"At ease, this your first official mission Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir," Kelsey said.

"Well sorry to tell you this but it's not the high stakes do or die mission you might have been hoping for. We need you to fly your Raptor out to Caprica and pick up a few VIP's for the ceremony."

"What? Babysitting?!" Kelsey responded, sounding quite offended.

"Yes, babysitting. Unless you would like me to tell the Commander you're too good for picking up some of his old shipmates from the war?" Captain Spencer responded coolly.

"No sir, um…I just wanted to make sure what it was the mission entailed," Kelsey tried recovering from her outburst and to try and get the threat of her father's disappointment away from her neck.

"Very well Lieutenant, Eyeball here has all the particulars. Head on down to the starboard hanger deck and head out. Dismissed."

Both of them saluted the CAG and filed out, with a very unhappy Kelsey Adama in tow.

"It's not fair, not only do I get a Raptor as my first bird, a frakked of a call sign, and my hair looking like a frakking Caprican diva, but my first mission is a gods damned bus ride?!" the fiery tempered woman spouted off as they descended down into the hanger where they could see their Raptor being prepped and readied by a gang of knuckle draggers. Eyeball just chuckled at the rookies angry bitching as he opened the door into the hanger deck.

"We ready to go Chief?" Eyeball called out as he began inspecting his bird for himself as was customary.

"Yeah mostly, the fuel injectors into the FTL are acting up a little but nothing to worry about unless you plan to jump to the Red Line," Chief Tyrol replied.

"We're not going that far, just a quick trip to Caprica for some pizza and beer, want anything?" the older ECO replied as he started climbing up the wing to check his own equipment.

"Well if you're offering I'll take a large meat lover with side of cheesy sticks," the Chief sarcastically replied grinning at Eyeball's normal humorous ways.

"Alright Chief, see ya in a few hours, let's go Lightbulb," the older Lieutenant called over as Kelsey latched her helmet on tightly and hopped the wing into the cabin to get into her seat.

"For frak's sakes stop calling me Lightbulb!" she said, although she knew it was futile, "We good?"

"Yeah we're fine kid let's go."

She grumbled unhappily to herself as she strapped into her seat next to Eyeball who was just humming an odd tune to himself that she was able to hear on her headset. But she didn't bother trying to make him stop, he knew that he was broadcasting that to her and wanted to mess around a bit, as usual. Kelsey began prepping the engines for start-up as their Raptor's unwieldy bulk was towed into the lift and sealed into the airlock. The whole craft shuddered as the powerful lift began to propel them up into the cavernous bay as Kelsey began to warm up the pair of powerful engines on the rear of the Raptor.

She still wasn't happy about going on a milk run but now her training was kicking in as she began to respond coolly and professionally to the Galactica flight officers.

"Raptor two-zero you are cleared for take-off vector zero-five-zero," the radio spoke calmly into their ears.

"Copy Galactica, vector zero-five-zero, beginning take off now."

"Your take off is good two-zero, you cleared for FTL jump. Gods' Speed."

"Thank you Galactica, be back before you know it," Eyeball replied, turning off the comm channel to the outside world and began spinning up the Raptor's FTL drive for their quick trip to Caprica, "Spooling up FTL, plugging in coordinates."

"Make sure you get them right Eyeball, I don't my first mission to end with us smashing into a Caprica City night club," Kelsey said as the experienced ECO carefully plugged in the coordinates.

"Ease up a little Lightbulb, you've got the best ECO in the fleet sitting next to you," he replied with a chuckle.

"I doubt that wise ass."

"Well then, let me prove it kid, coordinates plugged in, we're good to go."

"Finally, let's get this over with. Activating FTL now," Kelsey grumbled as she keyed in the appropriate command that would send the signal to the FTL drive to start drawing in the volatile fuel it needed to make the jump.

Under normal circumstances the drive should have activate instantly, but instead the monitors in the Raptor began buzzing with increased power output from the FTL as the whole bird began to vibrate and buzz. Static electricity began to stand her hair up and make everything metal charge with a shocking charge of electricity.

"Eyeball…why am I not seeing Caprica?" she hissed as she began to toy with the controls irritably.

"I have no idea, hold on let me check something," he replied uncertainly.

"If you're the best ECO in the fleet then Humanity doomed," she kidded him as he sat down and went through the computer checking to see if his suspicions were well founded.

"Our FTL isn't working," he said.

"Oh you don't say!"

Immediately a harsh alarm went off all over the cockpit as red lights began to flash into existence all around the Raptor's numerous flight consoles.

"Oh frak! Our fuel injectors, they're flooding the FTL Drive! It won't shut down! We're overloading the…"

A shower of sparks flooded from the flight controls as Kelsey looked back at her ECO to verify what it was he was saying. She held her hands up trying to block anything from striking her in the face out of sheer instinct and then a thundering crash resounded behind her and a wall of heat flew from the rear of the cabin. But when the glint of an expanding pool of dark red blood caught her eye she swung into action.

"Eyeball!" she screamed, seeing her ECO flat on the deck, a strip of steel protruding from his flight suit around his neck.

She pulled frantically out of her harness but then a small explosion of a fuel going up sent a small sliver of metal the size of her finger into her thigh. She collapsed to the deck as the piece of red hot steel burned and penetrated her lower thigh. The agony of the pain was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. But she saw that Eyeball was in dire straits, and crawled over to him.

"Eyeball hang on, you're gonna be okay pal," she yelled as she pulled at his helmet and ripped it off.

All that greeted her were a pair of lifeless unseeing eyes. He was dead. Kelsey dropped him to the deck and backed away, feeling the burning of the metal jabbed in her leg protesting painfully as she did so.

"No…no!" she screamed in a fit of complete helplessness.

But she still wasn't out of danger, smoke was filling the cabin as she tried to maneuver herself back into the pilot's seat. Her leg was still painfully protesting every movement she made, and the wet warm feeling of blood oozing from her wound was now a very unwelcome feeling. She tried peering through the smoke to try and get some manner of control back over her Raptor and managed to grab onto them just as a flash of light unlike anything she had ever seen before enveloped her craft.

"FRAK!" she tried holding her hands over eyes as the light blinded her to anything that might have been able to actually help her.

Another explosion emanated from her console and she felt another piercing pain envelop her shoulder as yet more shrapnel plowed through her thin flight suit. She now heard the unmistakable alarms of altitude loss, and there was only one place that the Raptor would have begun registering that, in a planet's atmosphere. She desperately tried reaching the controls but found shattered shards of metal instead that cut her hands deeply when she slapped her hands onto her flight control console blindly. She had no way of pulling her plummeting craft out of whatever dive or flat spin it was in and just decided on the last resort of any pilot, bail out.

"Come on!" she desperately tried reaching the handle that activated the Raptor's ejector seat for her side of the craft with one hand while he tried to strap in with the other.

Kelsey knew that if she didn't strap into the seat she would be jettisoned, just without a parachute. So she barely managed to clip the straps in and pulled down so hard on the tightening slack of the leather cord that she felt the metal in her shoulder dig ever deeper into her flesh. Blood now covered her arm and left leg, her visor was completely spider webbed with dozens of fractures that would give way and cut her face as well if another piece of shrapnel hit it. With one last energy sapped movement Kelsey reached down, weighed down heavily by negative G-Forces, and finally got a blood covered glove onto the right handle and pulled.

The rush of the jets underneath firing off felt like being lifted by the hands of Zeus as she was propelled out of her doomed air craft and into cold sky. She stopped moving straight up as the rocket motor ran out of fuel and finally quit and by design the sea itself detached from a parachute and survival kit strapped to Kelsey's back. Kelsey felt herself fall into a free dive and desperately pulled the cord for the parachute and was yanked up by the chute's opening and felt a tremendous amount of pain rush through all her wounds and flowed straight to her head.

_Frak, some first mission_, was the final thought her mind contemplated before she passed out.

Location: Earth Alpha Site at 20,000 Feet Above Sea Level

Time: 1830 Lima

"Holy shit! Look out!" came the very panicked call over the radio channel of Captain Jacob "Crossbow" Arrow's F-302.

"What the Hell was that?" his wingman hollered loudly, banking left along with Lucky as the formation of eight F-302's scattered to avoid the smoking craft that had suddenly appeared on their sensors.

"Okay which of you idiots shot yourself down?" Crossbow ordered over the radio, calling his section to be sure that what he saw wasn't a fellow 302.

"It's not one of us Captain," one of the other F-302's radioed.

"Okay stay on course, Bat-Two on me, we're following that bogey," Captain Nelson ordered.

"Copy that leader," Bat-Two replied, banking hard right to follow the lead F-302.

The scream of the F-302's thrusters were mere hums behind the buzzing noise of the fighter's inertial dampeners working overtime as the agile aircraft pulled 6 G's pulling in parallel with the trail of smoke from the damaged craft that had scattered their formation. The eight craft flight was on patrol over the northern spectrum of the Alpha Site with some new rookies from the UK when all of a sudden a bright flash surprised them all and the entire flight had broken formation to avoid being another pillar of debris and fire descending towards the snow covered ground. It was winter on the planet the Alpha Site was situated and boy it was a long one, five feet of snow had fallen within a few weeks, grounding most patrols and training flights, forcing a few bulldozers to shove the unwanted snow and ice off of the runway before the F-302's could fly off.

But a routine patrol had quickly turned into a long night of paperwork as the two F-302's followed the trail of smoke to its final conclusive ending point, a crater on the north ridge. But they saw something else as well, a single parachute, descending gently in the direction of the base's runway, which was visible a few miles away and was close enough for the gun crews manning a battery of rail guns to see the pilot's chute descending in their direction.

"You seeing this skipper?" Bat-two asked as they circled the descending pilot.

"Yeah, interesting, the chute is identical to ours but it doesn't look like the pilot's even trying to control it."

"KIA?" the wingman suggested.

"No, I doubt that," Crossbow said as they watched the figure hang limply as the parachute finally touched down not even a mile from the base's runway, "How would they have ejected?"

"Well looks like the ground pounders are going to be looking for themselves, Humvees are tearing down the pavement."

"Alright, let's join the formation, this isn't our cup of tea."

At that the two F-302's banked and started to climb back into the clouds where their formation was circling, still in their holding pattern waiting for orders.

Location: Earth Alpha Site Infirmary

Time: 2140 Lima

The sound of a constant rhythmic beeping was the first thing that graced Lieutenant Kelsey Adama's ears as she started to stir in a soft hospital bed. She took a few minutes to gain her bearings before she moved her head from side to side. A groggy drug induced headache echoed the sentiment that her chest, shoulder, and leg were feeling at the moment. She felt constricted slightly by what sure to be an IV in her arm feeding morpha into her blood stream to dull down the pain that was sure to follow a series of nasty shrapnel wounds across her body. But she knew she was at least alive. There were no real noises except her own breathing and the beeping of a heart monitor.

She finally managed to force her eyelids up and make her eyes to earn their pay after a few minutes of fighting away slight nausea and the ever groggy headache ailing her. What she saw didn't look like any hospital room she'd ever been in, what her eyes were subject to was a basic concrete box. It was littered with an enormous amount of medical gear with a few homey touches like plants, paintings, and a few TV's. But it was nonetheless a box.

"Doctor!" a low serious voice called out from her side.

Kelsey immediately threw her head to see who had just called out and saw that she wasn't alone, in fact she was under guard. A big soldier in a set of gray digital fatigues wearing full gear, with a matching helmet, vest, and pants was standing attentively a few feet to the right of her by a wall where a seat and a table were set up with a few strange looking magazines on it. In his hands he held a black assault rifle with attached add-ons such as an ACOG sight, lazer, flashlight, and vertical grip. But the configuration was unlike anything she'd ever seen, and her eyes immediately went to study him further. There were a couple patches on his sleeve that she couldn't really get a good look at due to how he was facing her. But it immediately became apparent, he wasn't Colonial.

"Oh decided to return to the land of the living have we?" a woman walked up from the left holding a tablet with a smile on her face. She wore a white coat with a black knee length uniform skirt like any female doctors at military hospitals wore. Her hair was a very dark brown and she wore a thin pair of reading glasses.

"Where am I?" Kelsey immediately snapped, feeling very boxed in as another soldier wearing identical gear walked in behind the Doctor, "Who are you?"

"Well, you are in my infirmary. And as to who I am, I'm Doctor Elizabeth Fox, Chief Medical Officer of the Alpha Site," the woman pleasantly said as she went over a few minor things on her tablet before looking back at Kelsey, "Now, who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, call sign…Lightbulb, Colonial Fleet. Service Number 130-3456-123."

She couldn't help but scowl as even the soldiers smirked when they heard her goofy call sign. But the Doctor seemed to be attentive and listened well.

"Is that all?"

"Which of the Colonies am I on?"

"You're on a planet we call P4X-650, I honestly don't know where your Colonies are, but perhaps if you could tell us more we can help you."

Kelsey narrowed her eyes, sensing something odd going on around here. The soldiers guarding her weren't Colonial, this Doctor was asking for the location of her Home Worlds, and she was saying that they were at a make believe planet called P4X-whatever-whatever. Her overactive mind immediately came to one conclusion, it was a Cylon trick! They had captured her somehow and were milking her for information under the premise of being "aliens." Well that's not happening on my watch toaster. She crossed her arms and refused to look at the Doctor, and clamped her mouth shut.

"Kelsey? Is everything alright?" the 'Doctor' asked calmly.

"You won't get any information from me, toaster," Kelsey hissed threateningly, forcing an unconscious reaction from the soldiers in the room who moved their hands closer to the triggers.

The Doctor was a bit thrown off by the rather out-of-the-blue threat from the young woman and put her hand gently on her thigh trying to relax the agitated young pilot, "You don't have to say anything at all to me if you don't want to, but you do need to let me change the bandages from your crash, you took a nasty beating. We had to take more than ten pieces of steel out of you in the past few hours."

"Get your hands off of me!" Kelsey snapped, preparing to strike Dr. Fox.

In an instant the two troopers held their weapons aimed at her face. She stared back at them through angry eyes until she saw what was on the patch she had not been able to see until now. It read: Stargate Command, Earth! Her hands fell onto the bed as she stared, jaw hanging as she studied the words written in the exact same language that she'd grown up reading writing. The symbol of a triangle without its bottom line with the circle above it looked just like a symbol found in an ancient text supposedly describing Earth. The facts now started to come together in her mind, the lack of knowledge of the location of the Colonies, the fact they were human, the odd name of the planet, the subtle differences in the weapons, uniforms and mannerisms. Could it be?

"Are you…from Earth?"

**Well, I hope I did alright with it. I've been wanting to put this out there, and this is just the beginning so please review and offer suggestions, hints, point out mistakes I might have made, etc. Hope you enjoyed.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Kelsey Adama meets the man who would dare mock Baal. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the next chapter folks. Hope you enjoy it.**

**First though I'd like to say thank you so much for the flood of views that this story got as soon as it was posted, nearly 800 of them. It's also gotten 17 Favorites, and 33 Follows within a week. I honestly don't know what to say, I've never had a story gain that much in so little time. So thank you to all of you who have shown such positive support thus far it really means a lot to me. Now for the Review Responses:**

**ferduran: I probably won't use teenager O'Neill but that may change as time goes by.**

**Robo Reader 21: Yeah I noticed that once you pointed it out, I've put in a part that may smooth that over and make it looked planned, but for the record, I never said she thought they were humanoid Cylons, I said she thought it was "a trick."**

**Major Simi: Yep, first missions never go according to plan, just look at Commander Adama's first mission in Blood and Chrome (It's still viewable on the iPhone). **

**southern-reader: Well, in this case the reason that they understand each other is a simple one, well two simple reasons actually. One, everything in the BSG 2003 series was written in English, just look at the sides of the ships and the DRADIS screens. Two, I don't want to go through the hassle of writing and translating a foreign language. But I see where you're coming from, it does seem very peculiar. But in the words of Tucker from Red vs Blue "Yeah but only one (language) that kicks ass, that's what we're teaching. English 101, remedial kick ass."**

**Nedy Rahn: It is an either way story. At the moment I've got two distinct plot lines in mind, not saying what, but I have several chains of events that lead to different climaxes that both show real promise. **

**darth-177: Yeah there really are a lot of stories about a reunion of Earth and the Colonies, but that lack of imagination shouldn't really take away from a good well written story. Every one of those out there is distinct in its own way, sure most start the same way, big battle over Earth that the Colonials lose and Earth gets hit in some way or another and the Stargate is disclosed and then both sides scramble to get the advantage in numbers and technology. But mine won't go along those lines. It'll be a hybrid of several stories I've seen with a few different things thrown in for a little fun.**

**thunder18: Thanks, hope you like this one.**

**EvilTheLast: Thanks, I like the versus stories as well. But you'll find neither side will be playing nice.**

**axel100: You are very right, and you bring up a good point that I'll need to elaborate on with Kelsey Adama's role in the story. Lee and Zak are as they were in canon, except they have a sister. And yeah the part last chapter with her calling humans Cylons was a goof up on my part, but I think you pointing that out has given me the idea of something to use as a recurring theme. But I never said she thought they were humanoid Cylons, I said she thought it was "a trick." So that gives me flexibility.**

**Chapter 2**

Location: Battlestar Galactica

Time 2100 Lima

Date: May 12, 2014

"What do you mean she disappeared?" Commander William Adama roared at his XO, Colonel Tigh.

"Just what I said Bill, Caprica Control said her Raptor didn't show up at the time we recorded her jump. She never made it to Caprica. Her transponder isn't broadcasting near any of the Colonies, and no other units have reported seeing her or her Raptor. She's just…gone," Saul responded calmly.

"There's not a chance that she jumped into Cylon territory?" Adama asked sitting down heavily.

"It's possible, but highly doubtful. I spoke with the Mr. Gaeta about the possibility, but he says that it would take several long range jumps to get anywhere near Cylon Territory."

"So where is my daughter?"

Location: Earth

Time: 0930 Lima

General Jack O'Neill stood on his groggily next to his subordinate, General Hank Landry who seemed to be far too energized for it being so early in the morning. He'd been on a routine visit to the SGC to check up on what was going on with the galaxy. But now he was being forced into meeting some crashed pilot that had given some pilots a real scare and splattered her ship across the countryside. The briefing from Colonel East, the CO of the Alpha Site had said that she had dramatically changed her attitude towards them once she heard the word 'Earth' and had asked, no demanded really, to go to Earth.

"Hey Jack," the always giddy Dr. Jackson said as he walked into the gate room as the chevrons started activating.

"Hey Daniel."

"Haven't coffee?"

"No…you know how I need a good cup of joe. It's torture to keep me from my morning coffee. Even if it's to meet some woman who wants to see Earth."

"Well Jack you have to understand this woman, as you call her, had known about Earth before we told her we were from Earth."

"And this is significant how?" O'Neill asked as the gate activated.

"Well…I don't know, let's ask."

The classic whoosh noise and the event horizon formed as a great leap of water flew from the gate and was just as quickly pulled back in. Immediately the iris closed, more for formality seeing as the General was present and it was protocol to get the iris closed as soon as _any_ offworld activation connected.

"Receiving Alpha Site IDC sir," the technician said into the mike.

"Open it up Chief," Landry ordered calmly.

"Yes sir, opening iris."

Just like that the iris opened and revealed the watery illusion the event horizon gave off. It was truly mystifying really, if it didn't shut down every thirty eight minutes O'Neill would just sit there and stare at it. But seeing as the damned thing tended to be a huge sink hole for the program's enormous funding.

As O'Neill began to zone out in his own head a single soldier walked right through the gate with his M-16 in hand and stepped off to the side to allow a wheelchair holding a single young woman in the dark green of an Air Force jumpsuit with her right arm in a sling and her hands bandaged up tightly. Her hair was a light brown with a streak of platinum blonde colored through the front of it. She was sitting in the wheelchair pushed by a single medic, so it hard to get a good gauge of her height, but despite the jumpsuit it was clear she took care of her body and was thin and petite. Her face was very attractive, even with some minor cuts on her cheeks. But it was also clear that she had never traveled by Stargate before so when she was through she began panting at the experience she had just gone through.

"You alright ma'am?" the medic asked courteously, receiving a firm nod as the young woman righted herself as not to show weakness.

"Wait, this isn't Earth, we just left!" she yelled, "what are you trying to pull?"

"Oh no you are on Earth, it's just we operate our Stargates underground and try to keep a similar lay out to our offworld facilities," Daniel said, trying to calm her down before she got too upset, "Hello, I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Adama."

Daniel held out his hand to the Kelsey and received a firm hand shake, "It's Lieutenant Adama, I haven't been called 'miss' since I joined the Colonial Fleet."

"Oh sorry, um…welcome to Stargate Command, and by extension, welcome to Earth."

Kelsey looked up at the concrete ceiling and breathed the air deeply, as if savoring the moment, "No one back home is going to believe this."

"Oh they'll believe you alright," O'Neill said, stepping forward, "Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, United States Air Force."

"A pleasure sir."

Instantly Kelsey saluted him smartly knowing a General of any Colony, including the thirteenth, deserved her respect and merited a salute. And she also wanted to try and make as good an impression as she possibly could. After all, this was the first time in ten thousand years that a Caprican had been face to face with their Earth cousins. O'Neill's lip curled into a crooked smile, and returned the salute.

"Major General Hank Landry, and don't feel the need to salute Lieutenant, I'm not really one for formality," Landry said, stepping forward to shake her hand.

"Well, I'd like you to join us in our briefing room for some chit chat, along with coffee," O'Neill offered.

"Oh some coffee would be nice sir," Kelsey grinned.

"See? Even she knows the value of a good cup of coffee," O'Neill said to Daniel as they filed out of the room.

It took a bit of convincing on Kelsey's part to get the medic to let her walk herself up the stairs on her still bandaged thigh. But after a subtle nod from O'Neill the medic helped her get up the stairs and into a seat where Daniel, Landry, and O'Neill sat down and started bombarding her with questions, after sharing a good cup of black coffee. Which Kelsey was oh so appreciative of, and O'Neill immediately got into a better mood, now having had his coffee.

"So, tell me, how did you know about Earth?" Daniel started.

"Are you kidding? Every child in the Colonies is taught about Earth!" she replied, "It's in the Sacred Scrolls."

"I'm sorry the what?"

"Our religious texts!" she replied, trying to point them in the right direction. But the blank and confused looks on their faces convinced her that she would have to really dig into her memory to try and remind them of their own frakking heritage, "According to the Sacred Scrolls several thousand years ago on a planet called Kobol humanity lived together in paradise with the Gods. There were thirteen tribes: Caprica, Gemenon, Picon, Aquaria, Sagittaron, Libran, Virgon, Scorpia, Tauron, Canceron, Aerilon, and your tribe."

"Those names, they sound like slight deviations of the twelve signs of the Zodiac," Jackson mumbled to himself.

"So you're familiar with the names?" Kelsey said hopefully.

"Yes kind of, they're constellations in the sky. We associate each constellation with a symbol and with that we associate character traits."

"So do we," Kelsey responded.

"But recently, we discovered a thirteenth Zodiac, Ophiuchus. The Snake Bearer, or Healer as some others have put it. We only recently discovered it was a part of the Zodiac due a phenomena generated by Earth's axial precession."

"I don't understand," Kelsey said.

"Oh I just trying to throw a name out there, hoping you knew what it meant."

"I'm sorry, I'm no scholar, you'd have to talk to a priest or one of the Quorum. I've never been all that religious. But I do remember a few things from grade school, maybe I can say something you all would remember. All thirteen tribes lived together a great disaster threatened Kobol and all who lived there. So…the thirteen tribes left. The twelve I named went on to form the Twelve Colonies, and the thirteenth went out on its own path, and eventually settled on a planet called Earth."

"Interesting story, but might I be so bold as to start poking little holes in it?" O'Neill started.

"I'm no priest, so you won't offend me sir," Kelsey replied determinedly.

"Good, our planet has had enough trouble with religious zealots, both indigenous and alien," O'Neill replied.

"Alien?" Kelsey swallowed surprised, "You've fought aliens?"

"And psychotic robots," O'Neill responded happily, "And kicked their asses time and time again."

"These robots…what was their name?" she asked, hoping that they had fought the Cylons and beaten them soundly so that perhaps they might have something in common.

"Well…we called them Replicators. They were kinda like little bugs with no clue as to the existence of birth control, we had to exterminate once, well…more than once."

"Did you create them?" Kelsey asked, trying to fish for information.

"Oh Hell no! We honestly have no idea where they came from, at least the Milky Way ones. The Pegasus buggers were a completely different animal altogether…wait…why?" O'Neill asked, drawing attention to the young pilot.

"Well…we've had our own troubles with artificial intelligence in the past."

"Haven't we all?" O'Neill chuckled, getting an odd look from Jackson.

"So back to the topic of your knowledge of Earth," Jackson stared, putting the conversation back on track, "You said that this thirteenth tribe settled on a planet called Earth after leaving a place called Kobol?"

"That's right, 'life here began out there', that's what the Scrolls say anyway. And the 'out there' is Kobol as the Sacred Scrolls tell us, which translates to Kobol being the birthplace of Humanity."

Daniel looked at O'Neill and let out a heavy sigh, "Lieutenant, I think that what I'm about to tell you will disprove everything your religion has told you. We have archeological evidence that shows Earth as the birthplace of Humanity. We have carbon dating proving our earliest ancestors evolved on Earth more than two hundred thousand years ago. You said that your own people were said to have left this planet Kobol about five thousand years ago?"

Kelsey nodded, unable to formulate any words at all as she struggled to comprehend what they were telling her.

"I think that your people started on Kobol because they were brought from Earth and left after some sort of tragedy forced them to leave, but if I had to guess this supposed thirteenth tribe didn't go to Earth, they returned to Earth."

Kelsey just stared out at them, unable to speak, barely able to breathe. What she was hearing was a very rude shock; if she had been a devout worshiper of the Lords of Kobol she would be yelling her lungs out at them screaming all sorts of accusations such as blasphemy and heresy. But she wasn't raised to think with her heart, that's what her head was for. She was smart enough to deduce the facts that were painful to hear but possibly true from all of what Dr. Jackson was saying. She had no clue as to what she was even supposed to do now. This was way outside her pay grade. Her day had started out as a frustrating milk run as her first mission. But instead, she had seen the death of her ECO, crashed of her first bird, and was now in the care of the long lost thirteenth colony. But now these people from Earth were telling her that all she knew and believed, what every single one of Colonies believed, was wrong.

"I…I honestly don't know what to say. Listen I'm no religious zealot, I won't bounce off the walls screaming blasphemy. But…there are those among my people who will, if you go to the Colonies, and you tell them what you told me. It could tear the very fabric of our society apart. There will be riots in the streets, the Quorum will denouncing you as heretics and blasphemers, the fleet will stop at nothing to gain access to the Stargate and whatever else you have, and all this will boil down to one inevitable outcome, war."

"Well that's why we told you first. You don't exactly speak for your government or your people. But you can give an insight to what they'll say, how they'll react."

"I'm a guinea pig, I'm some kind of test subject," she replied turning to face them.

"In a manner of speaking yes," O'Neill said with a careful nod.

"Can your _guinea pig_ be left alone?" Kelsey hissed distastefully.

"It's alright, here follow these guys. They'll take you to your quarters for the time being," Jackson calmly spoke to her.

She nodded, and slowly limped out refusing to sit in the wheelchair or even take any crutches. She was still proud and strong. And that moment of weakness she demonstrated was something very foreign to her, it was something she never ever wanted to go through again.

"Well Jack, looks like we've got quite the situation on our hands," Jackson said, plopping down next to him and Landry.

"So, what action do we take?" Landry asked.

"Well we can't keep her here, she doesn't belong here, this isn't her home. We have to at least help her find her home system," Jackson pleaded.

"Then what Daniel? Risk offending more religious nutjobs and going to war, again?!" O'Neill sarcastically yelled back.

"What if we didn't make contact with them until we knew more about their culture, their history? The more we learn about them the easier it will be for us to avoid any conflict, if I can find a way to get her back to her people will you let me study them, from afar, before making the decision to make contact?" Daniel said.

"And how will you do that Daniel? It's not like I can just give you one of our Battlecruisers just to hold these folks under a microscope. We don't have very many of them."

"Jack you just completed a new batch of them, and these even bigger ships you're building are nearly done!" Daniel replied.

"We only have twelve ships, with those three Battleships nearing completion. The next batch will probably be done in three weeks' time, the biggest problem is putting a fully trained crew on the damned things."

"Well…what about that Scout Ship Sam was designing? Could that do the job?" Daniel asked.

"The X-306?" Landry grumbled, "There are only two prototypes flying right now."

"But does it have the ability to scan Colonial space, listen in on their TV, or radios, or whatever it is they use for communication."

"Uh…you'd have to talk to Carter about that, she's at Area 51 right now, the Hammond is getting its F-302's outfitted with some new upgrades, you might be able to have her come up here and give us a run down on the X-306's capability," O'Neill said.

"I'm sure she'd enjoy that," Landry chuckled, remembering how much Colonel Carter liked showing off her latest and greatest inventions, discoveries, and doohickeys.

"I'll have her come on down later in the week and give her a breakdown of the situation," O'Neill agreed, "Now, what to do about our wayward guest."

Kelsey had barely made it to the room she had been assigned to without completely collapsing from the rather unbearable pain in her leg. The pair of security personnel escorting her seemed to be more concerned about her collapsing than her triggering a security breach. But she'd made it nonetheless, and collapsed onto the soft bed covers thankfully. The room wasn't bad, it was certainly better than any hospital bed or quarantine cell. There was a blue carpeted floor with concrete walls that had a few pictures and paintings of what appeared to be atmospheric fighters and bombers used by these Earthers. Each of them had a certain predatory allure to them, as any fighter or bomber truly had when it was designed by a true master of the trade. She had her own bathroom, complete with a shower, head, and sink. It was clear to her that they meant to keep her here, with some consideration taken to comfort, for a while.

As she laid there, right arm across her chest she began to day dream, and instantly, her thoughts drifted to home. And the first face she saw was that of her father, it was for him she'd joined the service after Zak died and Lee had cut himself off from their dad. She had seen the effect it all had on their father, and she wanted to help with every fiber of her being. So she had enlisted and joined the academy, set on following her father's footsteps, her brother's footsteps, and become an Adama. She wanted to see her father look at her with pride, and now…she just might be the cause of either the greatest moment in the history of the Colonies, or be the root of their darkest days. And then her mind began to trace what had happened to make her believe that this wasn't the blessing that it appeared.

_What if they don't heed my warning? What if the Quorum goes out of control and declares war? What about the Cylons? _

Her mind grasped that thought, _what about the Cylons? What if this wasn't real at all?_ What if I'm not _on Earth? I could be strapped to steel table with mind probes manipulating what I see and what I feel! I could be a tool the Cylons are using to glean information off of me by making me reveal all I know about the Colonies and the Fleet._ Her mind dissected these possibilities, remembering what her father had told her about the experiments he had seen with his own eyes at the war's end so many years ago. It was possible, the Cylons weren't stupid and they had proved their technological superiority in the war many times. And she'd not exactly been in a position to resist capture when she had ejected from her Raptor, so they could have easily controlled when she came to.

Kelsey also remembered the shocking way they had blown her whole belief in the Lords apart. Could that be a clue as to some psychological experiment to undermine the Colonies from the inside out? Her mind was rampant with 'what ifs' that plagued her mind with the unbearable circumstances of what she was playing out. If this was some Cylon trick she had to stay quiet and not let herself be tempted into revealing anything about the Fleet or the Colonies, and stay alive. But if this was Earth, she couldn't say too much about the Colonies that could be used against her people in the event of war. So she came to one conclusion, she had to keep her mouth shut and play along.

**Thanks for reading folks, hope you enjoyed it. Please review.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Finding the Colonies.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Well here we are again, and I must say, I am really liking this story. It is just so much fun to write and read these really positive reviews. More than 2,000 views, 30 Favorites, and 55 Follows so far? Wow you guys are spoiling me. **

**Burns: I hope I never stop writing either, it's fun.**

**Anonymous: Thanks, glad you're enjoying it.**

**Gillian Grayson: Well you're lucky, I've just finished drawing it out, along with the Battleships I mentioned last chapter. I'll try and put them out on Deviantart when I can.**

**southern-reader: Well they really aren't lazy as they are aware that having to translate something over and over again slows the entire show down. With TV shows you have a set screen time that you have use wisely to get your plot going, get a good build up to a climax and a good ending. You can only really have a good translation aspect in a movie where your time limit is not an issue.**

**actual: Well good for you I made this chapter a bit longer.**

**Major Simi: That's why I called the story A Brutal Truth.**

**apocalyps24: Thanks for pointing that out, you'd think a Cadet at a Maritime Academy would get that right the first time. :P**

**EvilTheLast: Yeah I plan on having her be introduced to a few different Earth customs, like National Geographic, or pizza, or the best sport in the world, American Football. **

**chaosrin: Yeah only one story I've read has finished, but it didn't finish the war. It's really a shame that most don't finish.**

**ferduran: I told you at the beginning of the last chapter in the Author's Notes that I really have no plans for clone O'Neill at this point. It may change, it may not change, we'll have to see how things turn out.**

**thunder18: Well here's your update.**

**Nedy Rahn: Well yeah that is a good point, but I really haven't given much thought to Kobol at all. But now that you mention it I can use what you said for a chapter ark in the near future.**

**Robo Reader-21: I'll have Dee talk with him a little.**

**Chapter 3**

Location: Stargate Command

Time: 1200 Hours

Date: May 15, 2014

Kelsey Adama was awoken by a soft knock at her door after falling asleep for several hours in the soft bed she was laying on. She hadn't really changed into anything different when she had gone to sleep, well she didn't have anything else. She got up out of the bed, remembering her injury as she stood up and felt the piercing pain still in her thigh. But Kelsey shook it off and walked over and opened the door, revealing Dr. Jackson standing there with a handful of books and magazines in his hands.

"Oh hello Doctor Jackson," she sleepily greeted him.

"You can just call me Daniel, I'm sorry did I come at a bad time?" he said, noticing the sleepiness in her eyes.

"It's fine, I just dozed off a little, what's with the books?" she asked.

"Oh I just figured you'd want something to do, and I thought you'd appreciate a good book or magazine just to pass the time, learn about Earth a little bit, you know, that sort of thing," he offered the stack to her which she looked at and perked her eyebrow up, motioning towards her arm in its sling, "Oh yeah right. Where would you like 'em?"

"Oh anywhere will do," she replied motioning vaguely with her hand towards the spacious room as a whole.

"Alright, I'll just put them right here. So I was wondering if you were hungry, we've got quite a menu for dinner tonight, if you were interested…I mean unless you wanted to read these first or you weren't hungry?" Daniel offered kindly, walking towards the door.

"Uh I guess getting something to eat wouldn't hurt," Kelsey responded, shrugging her shoulders.

"Great, but uh…you may want to stay off that leg," he said, pulling a pair of crutches out from behind the door from next to the SF standing guard at her quarters, "I mean from what I've read you took some nasty pieces of shrapnel from your crash."

Kelsey was still adamant that she could handle the pain, but the longer she stood on her aching leg the more appealing the crutches seemed to be. But she felt that she couldn't afford to look weak, especially considering that these Earthers would be judging her whole people by her every action and tendency. She couldn't let them think her people couldn't stand a little pain. However the more logical side of her mind said that she shouldn't make her people look like proud obstinate fools, which was the side she chose to listen to.

"I'm only taking them to make you feel better," Kelsey grumbled as she gratefully took the crutches and started adjusting to them and walked on down the hall, with a guard behind her and Daniel on her right.

The crutches were easy enough to use, they were no different than the crutches she had to use her freshman of high school when she broke her ankle playing Pyramid for the Junior Varsity team. Her mind wandered again, remembering how her father had been there for the first time and she'd gone broke her frakking ankle. But her father and brothers had been there for her, Lee had teased her for a long while afterwards after she would walk around the house with a great big boot that made it easy to tell where in the house she was. Zak however had been more understanding, and was very helpful as her main means of getting to and from school and rehab in the wee hours of the morning when the team practiced and exercised. Her father had been gone most of the time after that aboard the Battlestar Valkyrie on some top secret mission, but he was there to see her when she got the boot taken off and given a clean bill of health.

"You okay Lieutenant?" Jackson asked, out of the blue.

"Huh…what?" Kelsey muttered.

"You were crying," Daniel softly told her.

"No I wasn't," she stammered, but wiped a sleeve on her cheek and saw the darker wet spot that was generated by the one tear that had rolled out of her eye.

"Family?"

She just kept moving with a small whispered, "yeah, I don't really want to talk about it."

Daniel just nodded in understanding, he was well aware of what she was going through. He had been there and done that. So he simply left the matter alone and just decided to try and push conversation in a different direction entirely.

"So I've been cleared to kind be your caretaker while you're here on Earth," Daniel started, not really gaining her attention, "I was wondering if you could perhaps help me out with trying to figure out where exactly your system is located. So we can return you to your home and family."

Kelsey nodded in understanding, she knew that they couldn't help themselves, it was human nature to want to know and understand things, "I don't know how much help I'll be."

"Oh you never know, you might end up being a huge help, we've explored quite a bit of our galaxy and know most of more advanced cultures out there. At least I hope we do, the more advanced people become the more out of touch they become with their ancestry," he said.

"That tends to happen."

"So do you even have an idea of where your system was located on in the galaxy as a whole?"

"Well…if you showed me a big overview of the galaxy, with the arms and all, I could tell you where in relation to an arm we thought we were located."

"Alright, good, that's a start."

Kelsey smiled as Daniel opened the door politely and held it open for her to enter the mess hall where there were a few people grabbing a late lunch. Daniel instantly noticed that most of SG-1, save Colonel Carter, was all sitting together in a corner together, enjoying a large pizza.

"Daniel," Colonel Mitchell called out, waving him over.

"Hey Cam," Daniel replied, "how's the pizza?"

"Amazing," Vala managed to mumble through a mouthful of the delicacy.

"Who's your friend?" Mitchell asked, flirtatiously, examining the fine figure of Kelsey Adama.

"Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, Colonial Fleet," she greeted, offering a hand that Mitchell hesitantly took.

"Colonel Cameron Mitchell. Daniel?"

"Oh this is that pilot that crashed at the Alpha Site. She's from a system that we're trying to find so we can make contact with her people. Kelsey this is Vala, and the big guy is Teal'c," Daniel said pulling out a chair and allowing her sit down.

"Her people?" Vala asked, "And what would be your people's name? Perhaps I've heard of them."

Kelsey looked over to Daniel as he offered her a plate, "It's fine, just don't play cards with her and you'll keep whatever valuables you have."

"We called ourselves the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, we're about as advanced as you are, with several differences of course."

"Of course," Mitchell acknowledged, trying to take part in the conversation.

"Kobol…hmm…nope, never heard of 'em. How 'bout you muscles?" Vala asked, placing her chin in her hand as she looked at Teal'c as he stacked three slices of pizza on top of each other.

"I am unfamiliar with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."

"Some help you are," Vala grumbled, taking another bite of her pizza, and noticed that Kelsey hadn't even taken a single bite of her own pizza yet, "You gonna eat that?"

"Oh…I've just never seen food quite like this," she gestured to the peperoni pizza on her plate.

"It's good, granted it's not delivery, but it's good," Mitchell said as he finished a slice.

"Wow, it is good today," Daniel said as he too took a bite.

"Told ya."

Kelsey gingerly picked up the hot slice and nibbled off a piece of melting cheese and sauce. Immediately she took an even bigger bite, which drew the smiles of everyone including Teal'c.

"Was my face like that when I took my first bite of pizza?" Vala asked as Kelsey chewed the amazing food.

"You were slightly different, granted the pizza nearly scalded you, but you looked a lot like that. Dammit, I forgot to take a picture of a first pizza slice face again," Mitchell groaned, getting some chuckles.

"Okay, we had nothing like this on Caprica, or any of the Colonies for that matter," Kelsey said first thing after swallowing, "This is amazing, why didn't we figure out how to make this?"

"Well the whole key to a culture's food is geography, plant life, and animal life and its abundance. I can actually get you a TV and Direct TV, it's actually the best way Teal'c and Vala learned our culture," Daniel offered.

"I find that the man known as Andrew Zimmern most entertaining," Teal'c spoke up.

"I like Bear Grylls personally, wait no…Jason Bourne is my favorite, I've always had a fetish for adventurous and dangerous men," Vala trailed off, kind of putting a real awkward atmosphere over the table.

"I would ask you to cease staring at my forehead Lieutenant Adama," Teal'c suddenly spoke, catching Kelsey slightly off guard.

"Wh…what?"

"You were staring at the gold…thing on his forehead weren't you?" Mitchell asked.

"I'm sorry I've just never seen anything like that before, what the frak is that thing?" she replied.

"It is the sign of Apophis, a Gou'ald system lord that I served in my days of worshiping false gods. But thanks to the warriors of the Taur'i me and my people overthrew the Gou'ald and won the freedom of all Jaffa," Teal'c said, quoting the classic line.

"The Jaffa? So that means that you're…"

"I am not of this world, nor am I human."

"But…but you look just like a human," Kelsey stammered. She'd always thought of alien as being grotesque beings with two heads or something.

"The Jaffa are a race much like ours, just genetically altered to the point of being a separate race," Daniel informed Kelsey.

"I see…and these Gou'ald? What were they?"

"A race of parasites that took humans as hosts and then took on the mantle of Gods and enslaved both Humans and Jaffa, more than once they attempted to enslave this world, but the Taur'i defeated them on every occasion," Teal'c said.

"You have been attacked by aliens? How'd you fight them off?"

"Let's just say that luck had more to do with it than we'd like to admit, also having the damn best teams of combat operators, scientists, and alien allies helps too."

"So you used this Stargate thing you brought me here through?" Kelsey asked again, really feeling she could glean a lot of information.

"Not entirely, having probably the finest warships in the galaxy has its perks, and we only just acquired those," Mitchell said.

Instantly Kelsey shifted, this was information that could prove useful to the Fleet if they ever went to war as she was afraid they might. But judging by the track record of these Earthers, a war was looking more and more like a real two way fight. But she also realized that they could be pulling a fast one on her, trying to appear like they were in a position of strength to intimidate her and then later her people and government.

"These warships of yours…" she began, but was cut off by Mitchell.

"Let me stop you right there, Lieutenant. We only just met you, don't push your luck, the state of our ships and planetary defenses is something very few people on our own world know, much less someone we only just met. So even if you do ask, then I am obliged to tell you that no, none of here will tell you."

She winced from the scathing remark, but she had to say something, so she went out on a limb, "I was going to ask if they were anything like our Battlestars? Just curious if your people and my people have retained a similar taste in warship construction."

"Maybe, but you won't know that until after your people meet us," Daniel spoke up, wanting to get rid of the rising tension that talk about military and secrecy tended to cause, "But first we need to find them right?"

Four Days Later

Battlestar Galactica

0930 Hours

Commander Adama was in the gym of his old Battlestar, pounding away at an old punching bag that was hanging over in a corner. It had been several days since his daughter had disappeared. Fleet Command had since declared her MIA along with the Raptor ECO. The scuttlebutt rapidly spread that Lightbulb and Eyeball were MIA, and that the Commander was not taking it well. They were right. William Adama had lost one child, the loss of another would have been too much to bear.

But he went about dealing with the stress in the only way he knew how. He started spending more and more time, several hours at a stretch, pounding either a punching bag or a brave crewman or officer who happened to be sparring with someone or was just unlucky enough to feel sorry for their CO and step into the ring. Already Adama had put his CAG into sickbay with a broken nose after the Captain had decided to pull Adama off a punching bag and fight a real opponent.

The crew didn't seem to be taking the loss of a pair of pilots any better than he was, a silent memorial was held in honor of the two on the flight deck, with several candles being lit and silent prayers said for their souls. But of the crew, the pilots were taking it the hardest. They'd given the rookie a hard time, but that was Battlestar tradition, but seeing that same rookie leave and never return was not something that was normal. But of all the pilots, Starbuck was having the hardest time with Kelsey's disappearance. She'd become even more insubordinate and dangerous than ever before, fighting anyone she perceived as talking about Kelsey in a negative way. The two had been best friends since Kelsey had joined the Fleet, and had become her mentor aboard the _Galactica_.

Adama continued pounding the poor inanimate bag with everything he had, so he didn't take note of the door opening and saw the small figure of Dee walk in with a very familiar face in full flight gear right behind her.

"Commander?" Dee asked, trying to speak over the slapping noises the boxing gloves made on the bag. But her voice went unheard, "Commander Adama sir?" this time her voice was drowned out by one last blow that actually ripped the hanging bag from the chain holding it up. It smacked onto the ground, leaving both Dee and Lee Adama standing there stunned at the sheer power exhibited before them.

"Dad," Lee finally spoke, and gained his father's attention. Commander Adama turned around slowly and gazed at his oldest son, his last child.

"Lee…" he panted, examining the tall young man before him, "What're you doing here? You weren't supposed to arrive until next month."

"I asked to be transferred to the Galactica until her decommissioning," Lee said, stepping forward, "After what happened to Kelsey I felt that I needed to be here."

"How'd you find out about your sister?" the Commander asked as he took his gloves off and put them in the bag he brought with him to the gym.

"Petty Officer Duala told me, she said that you weren't taking it very well," Lee said, looking at Dee.

"Sir, me and the crew couldn't stand to see you going through the kind of pain you've gone through, not alone. Colonel Tigh…Colonel Tigh ordered me to contact Captain Adama and inform him of what's happened and ask him to come see you," she said, "You needed family to be here."

The old Battlestar commander looked his young officer with stabbing eyes that seemed to soften as he listened to her statement and nodded in understanding, "I know what you're trying to do Dee, and I thank you and the crew for your concern, return to your post."

Dee looked at Lee and saluted smartly as she left and closed the door shut, leaving the two Adamas alone.

"What happened to my sister?" Lee asked, holding back the tears and the stress in his voice.

"We don't really know, Mr. Gaeta and Chief Tyrol have been looking into it for the past week. She was set to jump to Caprica where she was supposed to pick up some of the Galactica's original crewmen for the decommissioning. But when she jumped…" Adama spoke, pausing to find words to describe it, "She never reappeared."

"Just like that? And Kelsey just vanishes?!" Lee snapped, unleashing pent up emotion he had been storing for at least three days.

"Lee…"

"Oh I know that story. Those are the kinds of risks we take every time we step into the cockpit, it's exactly what you said when Zak died!"

"Lieutenant Kelsey Adama was your sister, but don't forget she was my daughter!" Adama growled stepping into Lee's face, "And you would be wise to remember that."

"Why…why did you choose her? Why didn't you choose some other pilot? Why…" Lee trailed off, frustrated beyond anything he'd ever experienced in his life.

"Say what you came to say Lee. You know that I have no say on the pilots being sent on frakking milk runs!"

Lee sighed a labored breath out through his nostrils, and turned around.

"She did it for you, you know that right? When Zak died and you were back aboard a Battlestar she couldn't stand to see you leave like that. And it was my own fault for not being there for you. So she wanted to step up, be a true Adama, Viper Wings and all, and be there for you. She saw what losing Zak did to you, and all she wanted to do was make it better. Just like she always wanted to do," Lee ranted, fuming with every breath she took.

Adama stood there, watching the flushing of his son's face as he fumed and rolled around in his pent up anger. He saw his bloodshot eyes refuse to give into the grief that he was feeling, but refused to let it out.

"Son…" Adama spoke quietly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything. Your mother, your brother, but this is one child I will not lose. She's out there, she's alive. We will find her."

In that moment Lee felt his father's powerful arms grab him by the collar of his flight suit, and he felt the powerful embrace he was pulled into. Finally the emotion just poured out and he just grabbed his father tightly and closed his eyes, allowing himself to put aside all that anger, all that hate, and allowed himself to let the tears fall.

"So say we all."

One Week Later 

Stargate Command

1200 Hours

"Ah Colonel Carter, good to see you," General Landry said as soon as the blonde haired officer he had once had the privilege to have under his command stepped into the room.

"General Landry, how are you sir?" she replied happily, shaking her superior's hand.

"Never better, how's George's ship?" Landry asked, offering her a seat.

"The Hammond will be ready again in a few days. We're just giving the crew some time off and bringing in some trainees to get some experience on the real thing. It's the best we can do until we can get a proper simulator for new recruits."

"Lord knows we can build 'em faster than we can crew 'em," Landry chuckled.

It was a fact that with the new matter synthesizer technology acquired from the Asgard Computer Core that manufacturing warships of the BC-304, _Daedalus_, class and the BB-305, _Alaska_, class was going so fast that the number of trained crewmen wasn't able to keep up with the pace of building. Even F-302's were being scaled back due to the hundreds of them that were sitting in underground bunkers in the Alaskan and Ural mountains. But that still didn't stop the geniuses and technicians at the shipyards from coming up with new designs practically daily. There were designs for a Carrier-type ship, tentatively called the X-307 class, which was a four hanger, 500 meter answer to the noticed inability of the Taur'i to put out a large fighter screen. Even General O'Neill had slipped the idea of a massive Command Ship 1,200 meters long to her, wanting it called the _Enterprise_.

But Colonel Carter was here to share the idea of the smallest, and nearest to completion of these designs, the X-306 Scout Ship. General Landry had seen the specs and pictures of the ship, and even read a file of its first trials.

"So Colonel, let's skip to the part where you dazzle me and Jack with this new wonder ship that you've been working on."

"General O'Neill's here sir?" Carter asked.

"He's getting coffee right now, but he should be back any moment. Ah there he is…" Landry said, standing up when he saw Jack sauntering in with a great big SGC mug filled with coffee.

"General O'Neill sir," Carter saluted, smiling at seeing her former team leader again.

"Carter, good to see ya. What wonders do you bring to dazzle and confuse me with this fine day?"

"Well… I have been told you wanted to see the specs on the X-306," she said.

"Excellent, I always enjoy seeing another badass ship we've made," he said walking to the door into the briefing room, "General," he said holding the door open for Landry, but stopped Carter, "Say Carter, any word on that…idea I pitched to you?"

"You mean the Enterprise?" Carter grinned.

"Yeah, has it…interested those ship junkies at all?"

"Sir, like I told you the last time you pitched the idea of the Enterprise to me it's simply too big, it would take up every one of our matter synthesizers for at least a month just build the dock for the Enterprise. Then the ship itself would take several months just to construct and to train a crew of the size needed would be nearly unfeasible with the manpower we have."

"So…not yet?"

"Think about like this sir, what would you rather have? Six Battlecruisers, or three Battleships, or one Command Ship?"

"Well ideally all the above," Carter chuckled a little and walked in, "But you didn't say no."

"Jack, I know how much you want to have your big flagship but she has a briefing to give us."

"Fine."

Both General officers sat down and let Carter pop an encrypted data drive into a computer and started projecting the power point she had prepared on the X-306.

"The X-306 is a prototype scout vessel that we've designed as answer to planets of strategic importance with no Stargates. It's stated mission is to be able to stealthily get to a faraway planet quickly, and observe any activity going on there. And if needed land an SG-Team which will be trained to handle this craft. It is equipped with the smallest working hyperspace engine we've ever made with twice the speed of the original Prometheus. It can hold a maximum crew of ten but only needs one person to operate it. For stealth it is also equipped with a cloak identical to the one used on Atlantis Puddle Jumpers, but if push comes to shove it can be outfitted with a combat payload of two large missile pods and six automated rail guns similar to the ones used on the F-302's," she paused it to scroll to a clip of the X-306 running through a few trials, doing simple maneuvers with flawless precision, "Our initial tests have shown that the X-306 is well and truly capable of outmaneuvering and outrunning any ship of its size, and can outgun anything that can catch it. But it also has a shield with double the strength of a Jumper so it can take hits and give the crew a very good chance of getting out alive. And the best part, is that they can fit into the hangers of our ships."

"Very impressive, I want one," O'Neill said, watching the graceful craft on the screen perform expertly executed barrel rolls over Area 51.

They watched the Scout Ship for a while noticing how simply it was built. It had an angular, larger, mre dart-like, body of a Puddle Jumper. On top of the hull towards the back were short and long dual fins with the ship's classification number on it. But instead of the retracting engine pods of a Jumper it had four massive engines mounted above and below both wings that were angled down from the fuselage and then bent back upwards to allow the ship to be able to land without having to retract the wings. The missile pods were mounted directly into the sides of the nose that opened their doors to allow the variety mission centered weapons to be fired. Two of the six guns were mounted under the nose while the other four were in turrets mounted on the belly, on the top, and on the sides of the ship. It looked to be in between a Tel'tak and an Alquesh in size, but if what Carter had said was true it could outperform both and not break a sweat.

"What do you think of it Colonel? It is ready for full production?" Landry asked.

"As of now sir?" she asked, "Well we haven't tested its Hyperdrive or weapons systems yet, but every simulation has given me good reason to say that it could go through some careful field testing."

"So..yes?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes sir, it can be deployed as of now, but only in quiet missions. I wouldn't suggest combat at all. It's a Scout Ship, not a Gunship."

"Good, because Daniel is going to want one."

"Want one for what?"

"Doctor Jackson has sort of taken it upon himself to find the home system of a pilot who crashed at the Alpha Site a few weeks ago. So far he's pinpointed the potential location to a single sector of the Milky Way Galaxy where, frankly, we've never visited the sector before, and neither had the Gou'ald, Jaffa, or Ori. According to what we've gathered from her, her people believe that Earth is a long lost cousin that split from them several thousand years ago. In that time these Twelve Colonies of Kobol have mastered interstellar travel and have amassed quite a fleet of impressive warships. But she's barely given us any information on the capabilities of her people's military," Landry spoke.

"That's why we want this craft, we need to see what they're packing, and Daniel wants to study them and their culture so he knows what to expect when we make first contact," O'Neill said.

"Well what has she told us about their military capability?"

"We know they call their capital ships Battlestars, so that's one thing."

"She has made a point of not telling us about her military, she's afraid she could help us find weaknesses in her people's defenses and if war erupts, which she says is likely, she'll be responsible for the deaths of thousands of her people."

"But if they've got ships called Battlestars you know they're packing some heat."

**That's a good place to leave off wouldn't you say? Thanks for reading, if you like what you're reading please tell me in a kind review, it helps me go faster with the next chapter. I'd like to ask you the reader to do something for me. In a review, say yes or no to whether or not I should have O'Neill get his flagship, USS Enterprise.**

**Next Chapter Preview: A tiny Scout Ship meets huge Battlestars. More importantly will O'Neill get his flagship?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, I think this is my popular story ever…of all time. Thanks so much for the reviews, faves, and follows, I really appreciate it. However, with so many reviews I can't possibly do the responses anymore, I'll have to respond via PM's as they come in.**

**And I have tallied the votes for the Poll for O'Neill getting the Enterprise, and well…you'll see what I'll do with the results in a few chapters and on Deviantart when I put out the designs to the U-306 Scout Ship, BB-305 **_**Alaska**_** Class Battleship, and the **_**Enterprise.**_

**Chapter 4**

Location: Stargate Command

Time: 1500 Lima

Date: June 18, 2014 

"Okay…I think we've got it," Dr. Jackson whispered to himself as he looked at the computer screen before him.

"What?" Kelsey asked, from her spot in a seat in the corner. She'd basically given up on trying to actively search for planets and star systems that could have been home to the Colonies. At the moment she was idly flipping through a National Geographic magazine with her feet on the table.

It had been nearly a month of searching through the Ancient Database that Jackson had downloaded from Atlantis. He'd tried teaching Kelsey Ancient and about the Ancients with varying degrees of success. However things had been stressed with Kelsey being more and more depressed and irritated, basically she getting home sick. Mostly she was worrying about her father and what he might have been thinking about her and her fate. But for the first time since she'd arrived she had great hope for returning home to her family.

"Look, here, I just found a reference to a planet the Ancients established roughly a hundred thousand years ago they referred to as a Sanctuary from a massive plague that was destroying their civilization. The database we gained from Atlantis says that they brought humans from thirteen world that were dying and nearly extinct. I couldn't find any reference to what their names were but you can guess what they were called."

"I get the picture what does this mean?" Kelsey said leaning over Daniel's shoulder to look down at the computer screen.

"There was a reference to what the Ancients called this planet before it was a Sanctuary. They called it Kobol."

"Kobol…" Kelsey whispered, savoring the name.

"You said that your people left Kobol in ships. What sort of Hyperdrives do your people utilize?" Daniel asked, zooming out the star chart.

"You know I won't tell you that," she replied.

"It's to figure out how far they could have traveled. If you tell me that they had primitive FTL tech then we can assume that they have a limited range of travel and I can narrow down the possibilities," Jackson responded trying to coax more and more information from her in an attempt to gain more information.

"Alright, we believe that their FTL's were very much like ours. Relatively short ranged with five light years range per jump."

"Now that narrows it down," Daniel grinned, as he was typing he talked over his shoulder, "see it's not that hard to share."

"We're looking for a star cluster in very close proximity that is in close proximity to Kobol," Kelsey laid out for him.

"Well we're in luck, only one star cluster is near Kobol. So here we are, and we're in luck, we've even got a gate address," Daniel grinned, zooming in on a cluster of several small main sequence stars.

"You found it?" Kelsey asked, when she heard Daniel say that he'd got it.

"I think so…only one way to find out."

Dr. Jackson stood up and walked straight towards the door and with a mostly healed up Lt. Adama limping behind him slightly he made his way straight to the Control Room where General Landry was sure to be. So when he walked in holding a notebook with the gate address in question along with every scrap of notes he had taken on the long journey to this point.

"Walter, where's the General?" Jackson asked as soon as he got into the control room.

"He's in his office Doctor."

"Thanks," and with that Jackson hurriedly bounded up the stairs two at a time with Kelsey struggling to keep up.

_He's more frakking excited than I am, and it's my homeworld_, he thought to herself.

"Ah Doctor Jackson, I hope you bring good news," Landry said as he looked up from his desk filled with paperwork.

"Yes we do," Daniel said as he looked back to see that Kelsey was just walking in behind him, "It turns out that we've been looking in the wrong place sir," General Landry gave Daniel a really confused look at that, "We've been looking for a star cluster out on the very edge of the galaxy on opposite ends from us, but we never contemplated looking in our own arm of the galaxy. Here."

"What am I looking at?" Landry asked, examining the detailed star chart with red marker notes written all over it.

"Okay, this is Earth," Daniel pointed, "and just recently Kelsey and I found reference to a planet that Ancients settled called Sanctuary, but its name before that was Kobol."

"The name Kelsey's people believe they are from?"

"Yes sir," Kelsey responded, still not very comfortable with what they'd told her about Earth being the birth place of humanity. But she was steadily leaning towards that being the truth. _That many National Geographics couldn't possibly be a Cylon Mind Probe. They weren't that imaginative._

"So we began to expand our search, and we saw this star cluster not very far away," Jackson pointed again, this time to a group of stars circled in red marker that was believed to be what she had called the Cyrannus System, "And it has a Stargate."

"Lieutenant Adama," Landry called, "Does this look like your home system?"

"Yes sir it does," she replied confidently.

"Very well, the Hammond is standing by in orbit with the U-306 loaded and ready in its hanger bay. I'll give SG-1 the mission briefing and send you on your way."

"Wait," Kelsey spoke up, "Why don't you just use your Stargate and go there now?"

"Because we have no idea what will happen, where it is, or even if it's still operable. We need to be sure that we won't cause mass mayhem in the middle of a museum and have your military treat us like rebels."

"You might be thinking that that's weird but it happens more often than you'd think," Daniel whispered.

Kelsey nodded in understanding, "But can I at least go with them? It is my home and my people after all, and I haven't seen them in more than a month."

"Of course."

Three Days Later

Location: Cyrannus System aboard USS _George Hammond_

Time: 1300 Lima

"_Scout zero one you are clear for hyperspace window_," the voice of the air traffic controller aboard the Hammond said as the sleek scout vessel containing all of SG-1 and an excited Kelsey Adama, streaked away from the larger Battlecruiser.

"Copy Hammond, opening hyperspace window," Mitchell responded, "buckle up folks."

"Okay, all systems are in the green, we're good to go Cam," Carter said from the control station next to Colonel Mitchell.

"Let's see what this thing's got under the hood," he grinned as he pressed in the right series of commands.

Kelsey was sitting in the back of the cockpit, where everyone was sitting or standing. The area was relatively large and roomy, there were five different seats for someone to be at the controls of a single system such communications, weapons, or piloting the thing. Kelsey had never been aboard one of the Earth ships before, and when she'd come on this mission she'd gone through a sensory nightmare when she was beamed up onto one these Earthers' warships, a Battlecruiser as they'd called it. So needless to say, that wasn't the last thing about that ship that she had been shocked to see. There were too many windows aboard the ship, perfect targets that could end up being the death of the small ship she was on. She felt extremely cramped aboard the Hammons too, on Battlestars the ceilings were high to keep the crew from going nutty from claustrophobia. But aboard this Earth ship every bit of space was used to its fullest potential. Security was far more heavily enforced for her while aboard, seeing as she was a stranger to the ship and the Earthers didn't want any of their 'superior' technology to be copied and potentially used against them. But from what she'd seen the only item of interest was their hyperdrive that was far more strategically efficient that the FTL's her people had.

But somehow she'd kept her sanity aboard the cramped vessel and now here she was, stuck in an even smaller ship bound for home.

"Here we go. In three two one," and with the single press of a button a purple cloud of light ripped into existence and they and their small ship dove into it.

"Okay, we're going to be coming in ten seconds," Carter said, and a countdown timer appeared on the HUD in the window.

Kelsey began getting restless, this was it, she was almost home. She eyed the timer as it wound its way to zero and then everyone in the ship flinched in terror when they emerged from hyperspace barely a hundred meters away from the nose of a massive gray ship.

"Oh frak!" Kelsey yelled as everyone else jumped into action, Mitchell expertly pulled up, barely avoiding crashing into a battery of cannons mounted on the ship's back and then quickly activated the ship's cloaking device before they were spotted.

"Well that was close."

"Indeed," Teal'c replied as he looked out in awe of the vessel they were now staring at.

"Kelsey…is that…" Daniel asked, trailing off.

"That my friends…is a Battlestar."

Kelsey reveled in the awe that the Battlestar seemed to have on her friends. She'd been the same way when she had first seen a Battlestar in person. It was an unforgettable experience to say the least.

"It's massive, must be fourteen hundred meters long at least," Carter whispered.

"Teal'c, you ever seen anything like it before?" Mitchell asked.

"I have never seen a vessel like this before," Teal'c responded tactfully.

"It's twice as large as any Ha'tak class ship I've ever seen, and it could tear one apart with all those guns too," Vala observed.

"Wait a second, Colonel, you see that flight pod?" Kelsey stepped forward and pointed towards the very familiar shape of the port pod where the vessel's name was written in great big steel letters, "Could you get closer?"

"Yeah…I sure hope this thing's cloak works."

"Cloak?" Kelsey asked, trying to confirm what her ears were telling her.

"We can turn invisible, it helps to keep those very big guns from turning us into space dust," Vala whispered.

"So that's why she hasn't launched her alert Vipers," Kelsey realized, noticing hardly any CAP presence at all, just a formation of four Mk VII's circling above the ship right below them.

"Why are we whispering?" Mitchell added.

"I don't know, seemed appropriate at the time," Vala responded.

Mitchell groaned and gently brought them closer to the large pod. It too was bristling with weaponry, smaller, yet still large secondary guns were holding still aiming into the deep black of space that harbored the small scout ship. But Kelsey began to get extremely excited as they examined the large name plate on the hanger pod.

"The Galactica," she breathed, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"What? The name of the giant scary ship is Galactica, so what?" Vala asked.

"It's just not any Battlestar, it's my Battlestar, it's my father's Battlestar!" she said, smiling wider than she did when she first got her wings.

"Your father's?" Carter asked.

"I suppose I couldn't ask you guys to land?" Kelsey asked hopefully, "The last time my father thought he lost a child, my brother, he was almost impossible to reconcile. I really want him to know I'm alive."

"We can't just contact them," Mitchell responded, "Need I remind you that your people are liable to go all religious nutjob on us?"

"Not my father, he doesn't really believe in the Lords, if there's anyone level headed enough to make first contact with it's him, he's also family."

"Also having our first contact scenario putting us on the moral high ground by reuniting a father and his daughter," Jackson added.

"It would probably be the best first contact we've ever had," Carter also piped up, "At least in my experience."

"How exactly do we do that? I'd say that we wave to them through a window, but I don't see any," Vala said.

"What about the radio?" Jackson said, then looked at Kelsey.

"I can get you Galactica's frequency."

"Well it looks like we're going to make contact, Carter, hail them."

Location: Battlestar _Galactica _CIC

"DRADIS Contact! DRADIS Contact! Distance, four-two-zero meters, nine-five degrees, Karom one two zero," Felix Gaeta yelled out as soon as a single blip appeared on the large scanner above the heads of Commander Adama and Colonel Tigh as they were talking with a few civilian engineers on the progress of the disarmament of Galactica's main battery of forward heavy cannons.

"Action Stations! Set Conditions One throughout the ship!" Adama ordered, "Mr. Gaeta identify.

"I'm not reading any IFF from the contact, unknown configuration. The vessel is a bit larger than a Raptor."

"Order the CAP to get a visual," Tigh ordered, stepping to the plotting table, "How the frak did they get that close?"

"_Galactica this is Starlight, on intercept with the bogey_," the radio called out.

"Starlight this is actual," Adama said, grabbing the phone, "Hold your fire, do not fire unless fire upon."

"_Copy actual."_

Adama and the entire staff waited as the contact paralleled the Galactica on her starboard side, and then matched speed, as if it was supposed to be there. The CAP of four Mk. VII Vipers closed rapidly on the contact, passing over the still intact main battery of heavy cannons. Those guns were of no use if this vessel was hostile. But it was literally in the crosshairs of the Galactica's main point defense guns. Whatever it was could have easily gone without being seen if it had wanted to remain anonymous, because obviously they had been able to get this close without being seen. So it would stand to reason they had wanted to be seen and identified because they weren't exhibiting any outwardly hostile action.

"Commander," Dee said over the quiet over, "I'm getting a signal from the bogey, it's coming over the broadband," she listened to it intently, making sure she was hearing what she was hearing.

"Put it on speakers," Adama ordered.

Dee nodded, hesitating a slight moment before she tapped in the control to pipe the transmission into the CIC speakers for all to hear.

"_Attention Colonial Battlestar Galactica, this is Scout Zero-One attached to the Earth Defense Ship George Hammond, please respond over_," came the scratchy voice of a man speaking calmly over the channel. Instantly every single person in the CIC stopped what they were doing and just stared out at the speakers. Not a single one of them could believe it.

"What the frak?" Tigh breathed, not believing his ears.

"Dee, put me through," Adama ordered calmly. He took the phone into his hand and breathed calmly, if what he was hearing was an Earth vessel, being flown by an Earther pilot, he was going to be the first Colonial to speak with their long lost cousins in over five thousand years, "This is the Commander of the Colonial Battlestar Galactica responding to your hail, over."

A moment of calm quiet reigned over the CIC, everyone holding their breath, waiting for the response.

"_Copy that Galactica we hear you, Commander Adama I presume_?" the voice said again, with quite a bit confidence etched into his voice.

Now Adama and the entire bridge crew became very suspicious. How'd they know his name?

"How do you know my name?" Adama hissed, suspicion draining from every word.

"_Well a little birdy we found told us you were in Command of this big ass ship. Requesting permission to land in your starboard hanger."_

Adama looked to Tigh who just had a look of awe on his face as well as one of pure calculating suspicion.

"They don't mean…" Saul asked.

"_Galactica, Starlight, I have a visual of the bogey, it doesn't look like any ship I've ever seen. It's got wings, four big frakking engines it's also quite well armed for something only a little bit bigger than a Raptor."_

"Copy Starlight, keep the bogey in your sights," Dee responded.

"Mr. Gaeta, I want every Marine on this ship to get their asses to the starboard hanger deck full combat gear, Dee alert the crew, we're having guests," Adama ordered, then picked up the phone, "Scout Zero-One, you are authorized for landing in the starboard hanger. Dee guide them in."

"Yes sir."

"Copy Galactica, we're on approach," the man responded, and the contact on the DRADIS began zooming towards the rear of the ship to make its approach.

"Gods damn that thing's fast," Starbuck called over the radio as the ship passed over her formation.

Adama put up the phone and called Saul to come with him. The Marines at the entrance followed him and the XO like well trained dogs and started marching with weapons ready, their faces holding stern faces of anticipation at what they were about to experience. It didn't take long before the ship was buzzing with activity, cheers of joy were heard echoing throughout the ship as the comms spread the news that an Earth ship had made contact and was coming aboard. Marines were charging their way towards the starboard side of the ship and some were tasked to keep unnecessary crewmen from flooding the deck, trying to get a glimpse of these people from Earth.

"You ready to make history my old friend?" Adama asked as he walked down the stairs onto the bustling deck that was crawling with Marines who were taking up defensive positions on the catwalks, behind crates and Vipers and those not inside were stacked up into squads just outside the hanger doors, ready to flood in and take care of business. Chief Tyrol was on a rampage, both pissed off at the condition of his deck, and outraged at the presence of the Marines who were getting in the way of his crew getting the deck clear for this historic moment.

"Come on people! Get your shit together, we're about to make history here! And I don't want the first thing these Earthers to see of our ship to be a shithole!" Tyrol bellowed at his bustling crew. Vipers and Raptors were being towed to their storage points wherever there was room, tools were being shoved into closets, parts were tossed into buckets and hidden away to be found and sorted out later and uniforms were straightened out and rank emblems were given one last spit shine.

Dozens of pilots were beginning to crowd the area, and still others were slipping in. Not even the Marines could keep them out.

"Where are we Chief?" Adama asked as soon as he got up to his Chief of the Deck.

"They're landing now, although they must have one Hell of a pilot because I haven't heard it touch down.

As that happened the red light symbolizing that the lift was coming down started going off. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. But the officers had the sense to start forcing their charges into blocks.

"Come on, look sharp, dress and cover!" Colonel Tigh yelled as the doors opened up and revealed the sleek form of the U-306 Scout Ship, "Ten-hut!"

The entire crew was hustled into place in large blocks organized by occupation. The Marines were forced into blocks but kept alert, even at attention. The multicolored deck crew were thankfully well disciplined enough to look good, the pilots were all together, and the entire deck looked presentable. The officers stood rigidly at attention as the normal handling crew were startled and dumbfound at what they saw.

It wasn't landed, not by Colonial standards. It was hovering silently above the ground, which seemed to confuse the deck crew who were charged with towing it in. But the ship instead started creeping in with a frazzled crewmen directing it forward. The craft was a dark gray, with a tinted black cockpit. It was heavily armed, with two chin mounted cannons and integrated missile pods on the sides of the nose. Two perpendicular tail fins extended along half its back. It wasn't that tall, being roughly a meter taller than a Raptor. It's wings had folded in on itself making it thinner and able to fit into the lift. The crew gasped as it spun around, bringing its guns away from them and then settled to the ground.

"Here we go," Adama whispered.

A single mechanical hiss from the Earth ship broke the silence, and a large dark gray hatch opened gently and lowered itself. Every single Colonial present had their eyes locked on the entrance waiting to get their first look at their long lost cousins. And they got it in the form of a pair of people in green and black BDU's. They weren't wearing anything on their heads, allowing them to see a man with short brown hair carrying a compact box-like submachine gun with a type of bird in silver on his collar. The woman was a blonde with her hair tied in a ponytail, she was identically equipped and armed. A set of patches of a red white and blue flag along with a white and gray patch of an odd symbol was on each arm. The two stepped forward, revealing a trio of identically dressed individuals, one was a man with brown and glasses, another was a black haired woman, and the last was a big dark skinned man with a golden symbol on his forehead.

Commander Adama stepped forward, and received a salute from the two who got out first as they stood on the edge of their ramp. And as always right beside him was Colonel Tigh.

"Permission to come aboard sir," the man said holding the salute.

Adama returned the salute, "Permission granted."

The two of them dropped the salutes and the man extended a hand, "Colonel Cameron Mitchell, United States Air Force."

"Welcome aboard."

"Colonel Samantha Carter, united States Air Force, Commanding Officer of the Earth Defense Ship George Hammond."

"Welcome Colonel, I'm Commander William Adama, commanding officer of the Battlestar Galactica. This is my XO, Colonel Tigh."

"Nice to meet, ya, oh that's Doctor Jackson, Vala, and Teal'c. My team," Colonel Mitchell responded, pointing to each person in turn.

"How did you find us?" Adama asked, wanting to get right to the point.

"Well truthfully you found us," Carter replied, "One of your ships crashed at one of our offworld bases, and we rescued a survivor who helped us find you."

"What?" Adama asked, absolutely shocked at what he was hearing.

The entire deck crew began whispering, hearing the word, "ship" and "survivor" meant something very important to them, especially the waiting Captain Lee Adama, standing next Kara Thrace in the block of pilots.

"We have her with us, she's the one who told us that you were in command, and also where to land in your hanger, but that's a different story," Mitchell said, "She's been itching to return."

At that the Earthers parted, allowing everyone in the hanger including Commander and Captain Adama to see the figure of their long lost pilot. She was wearing the same uniform as the Earth personnel but when Commander Adama saw his daughter he knew it immediately, and as she stepped towards him he took hesitant steps towards her.

"Kelsey…" the old man whispered, as he brushed his hands across her cheeks. Her eyes began watering as she leaned into her father's touch and placed her hand over his and then finally just gave in and flung herself into her father's grasp.

"Dad…I've missed you."

"Thank you," Adama said, and broke from his daughter to face the two younger Colonels, thank you fro bringing my daughter home," with that he grabbed the two of them and embraced them in a powerful hug, neither was expecting.

The entire deck broke into cheers and applause as the crew finally had its pilot returned to it. Lee rushed towards his sister who saw him and ran to hug her brother as the crew rushed forward to welcome their comrade home, and greet their cousins, now reunited. The Adamas embraced in the loving arms of family, both blood and adopted. Kara hugged her now returned best friend with a strength that threatened to damage the healing shoulder wound. The officers, pilots, Marines, and crewmen crowded around their Earth cousins, shaking their hands, giving warm hugs, and celebrated.

Chief Tyrol and several pilots and crew ran their hands over the smooth pristine hull of the U-306 and gazed at the unique craft sitting before them. Not even Saul Tigh broke from the party and brought order to the chaos.

All Colonel Mitchell could think was one simple thought.

_Best first contact ever. _

**She's home! And the next saga of the story begins. You'll find that I'll be doing things in a way never before done so it should be interesting for all of you.**

**Next Chapter Preview: First Contact, check. Next on the list, meet the Colonies, all twelve of them.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm not giving up on this story, it's simply a case of NO internet connection, thank you very much anonymous internet provider who I will not name but I would still like to I say I hate you. Anyway, I've finally finished some of the sketches for the ships in the story, most notably the Enterprise, which I tentatively called a BCV-307 Battle Carrier. I also have finished the BB-305 Battleship and the U-306 Scout Ship. Those are posted, I'll provide a link in the end of the story.**

**But on a far more serious note I would like to dedicate this chapter to the victims of the Oklahoma Tornado of May 20, 2013. I'm not trying to look cool by acknowledging current events and get brownie points for it, this is serious. I know that there are several readers from Oklahoma who read this story so this chapter is dedicated to you and your state. The hearts and prayers of the nation are with you.**

**Chapter 5**

Location: Battlestar Galactica

Time: 1600 Lima

Date: June 21, 2014

"Wow," was the very first word that Colonel Mitchell could even think of saying as he, Colonel Carter, and Doctor Jackson were escorted through the belly of the Battlestar Galactica. Colonel Tigh was leading them on through along with a squad of Marines always on guard nearby, ready to swoop in at any moment. Vala and Teal'c had stayed at their Scout Ship to keep probing eyes from seeing just how advanced their ship was. It was also for the protection of the Colonials, if Vala decided that she liked something on that deck or in a Colonial's possession only a very distracted Teal'c was there to stop her from conning, stealing, or seducing her way into getting her mitts on it. Also Mitchell didn't want Teal'c to become an item of interest that could spell a lot of trouble in the near future.

"Yeah, she's a jewel of engineering alright," Tigh said grinning at the faces being made by the Earthers.

"For your state of technology it is," Carter piped up, she was examining the ship far more scrupulously, her trained eye picking out certain bits and pieces that gave her a well-rounded idea of what state of development these Colonials were in.

"Well she is the oldest ship in the fleet," Tigh retorted, trying to save face for the old girl, "Wait what you mean by our state of technology?"

"Just observations," Carter said.

"How old?" Jackson asked.

"Nearing forty years, give or take," Tigh replied, "But she's still got it where it counts, even if she's a frakkin' relic."

"Like weapons, shielding and fighter compliment?" Carter then said, calculating her every word.

"Yep…wait, shields? Like energy fields to protect the ship?"

"Yeah, do you not have any?" Mitchell piped up.

"Well it's only rumored that something like that is in development but there aren't any Colonial ships I know of that have shields."

Carter flashed a knowing grin to Mitchell, _we've got one thing they don't_.

The tour was limited to say the least; apparently the Colonials didn't exactly like sharing technological secrets either. The only place that they were allowed to go to that was of any importance was the_ Galactica'_s CIC. But everything of a sensitive nature that would have normally been there was stowed away or censored when the Earthers got near them. However it was all they needed to see to be able to tell that they were leaps and bounds ahead of the Colonial Fleet's current technology, at least on the _Galactica._ But one thing that did seem to interest Carter was the DRADIS display. One minute it was absolutely clear of traffic the next it was swarming with green dots signifying friendly ships. Carter was able to read several unique yet familiar names with Battlestar written before the ships' name; _Mercury, Atlantia, Rycon, Prometheus_. Then there was one contact that seemed to be the largest, Warstar _Zeus_. Other ships designated as Cruisers, Destroyers, Support Ships, and Transports lit up the screen. Over twenty ships finally showed up as the DRADIS screen zoomed out to compensate for the large number of ships and fighters being crowded into the area.

The CIC crew began chattering off these names rapidly and challenging and verifying the identities of the numerous warships jumping in around the _Galactica_. Finally it ended however with one last Battlestar checking in on the screen, Battlestar _Pegasus_.

"That's a lot of ships there Colonel," Mitchell said warily, moving a hand near holstered side arm.

The marines present noticed this too, and one by one fingers began curling around triggers, and the grips on their rifles tightened. Several crewmembers in the CIC began getting anxious and worried, but kept to the task at hand of making sure that they did their jobs.

"We sent out a Raptor to report contact a few minutes after you landed, it's standard protocol Colonel I assure you," Tigh replied, sensing the tension building among the group of Earthers as they saw the fleet taking station around the _Galactica_.

"Well forgive me for being slightly paranoid, but we've had some nasty first contacts before, and this is looking to be going down a path we don't want to tread on," Mitchell harshly replied.

"Colonel these ships are here to protect the_ Galactica_ as per protocol and establish a quarantine of the local space until civilian authorities can arrive and do what they do, we have no idea what to expect from our own people much less you."

Jackson then tried to ease some of the tension he could see the Colonials were trying very hard to alleviate themselves, "It makes sense, I mean better to play it safe right?"

Carter slowly nodded, her own logic kicking in and coming to the same conclusion.

"Well, I guess I can say I would feel safe if someone tried to come here and mean us any harm," Mitchell said light heartedly as he lowered his guard slightly.

"Commander on deck!" came a loud call as Commander Adama walked into the CIC with a now properly unformed Lieutenant Kelsey walking in proudly beside him. She had changed into her normal pilot's flight gear, as she preferred to wear whenever she could.

"At ease, Colonel give me a status," Adama said calmly, walking in and assuming his normal place at the plotting table.

"Well…" Mitchell said, his uncontrollable sense of humor showing through, "Your guests forgot to send an RSVP to the meet and greet invitations, know what I'm saying man?" he grinned elbowing a Marine Lieutenant who just glared at him, "Ooh tough crowd."

Tigh actually chuckled slightly at that, and other members of the staff actually tried suppressing grins at the attempted humor from their Earth guests.

"Well judging by the ships present I'd say we have the balance of Battlestar Group 13 out there in close formation. There are a few stragglers from other groups but the main force is from BSG-13. Admiral Powers has assumed command with his flag on the Warstar _Zeus_, ship is at Condition Two, Alert Vipers are on standby."

The Earthers stood in silent appreciation of the sheer amount of professionalism being displayed before them. Carter also noted the description of a new ship type, _Warstar, a Command Ship?_ But she refrained from asking questions that she would probably learn the answers herself when they would eventually have to leave or bring the _Hammond_ in closer for a detailed sensor sweep. But at the moment it looked as if they would be staying a while. For that she would like to have the _Hammond_ within beaming range, but at this early in the game they couldn't afford to show their hand.

"Sir," Dee spoke up, "I have Admiral Powers on the line for you."

"Put him through to me," Commander Adama ordered, "Marines, show our guests to the guest quarters I want a secure perimeter around them at all times. I'm sure you understand Colonel?"

"Of course," Mitchell nodded, "If it's alright I'd like to stop by our ship on the way there, check up on our other two team members."

"Very well," Adama nodded, "Marines," the squad of marines snapped to attention and started leading the Earthers off of the CIC as Adama spoke into the phone that had Admiral Powers on the other end, "This is Commander Adama."

"Adama? Boy you old war veterans sure have a knack for being in the right place at the right time," the young loud voice of the task force Admiral spoke up, "I expect that this isn't some retirement prank on the entire Colonial Fleet?"

"No sir," Adama replied tersely. He'd never liked Admiral Powers, he was one of the new batch of flag officers, impulsive, arrogant, and flashy. They liked their big new class of flagships, the _Olympus_ class Warstars of which the _Zeus _was the newest. It was rumored there would be one more in the line of mammoth vessels, the last. The last in the line would be named _Galactica_ from what Adama had heard. At four times the size of the current _Galactica_ it would be a pure symbol of status and power, a sign of how much things had changed, "At thirteen twenty hours we got an unknown DRADIS contact off our starboard side. The vessel identified itself as a Scout Ship attached an Earth ship calling itself the _George Hammond_. I followed protocol and initiated first contact as ranking officer and sent word to Fleet Command."

"As the record has shown," Powers observed, then now listening to every syllable that came over his head set politely asked further, "What happened with the first contact?"

"They're human, I had my CMO check them out and immediately placed them under armed guard to maintain security and for their own protection. But… that's not quite all sir. I don't know if you heard or not, but a month ago I had a Raptor disappear on a routine trip to Caprica, the pilot was my daughter, Lieutenant Kelsey Adama."

"I heard the news on the Fleet TV Channel," Powers responded, although he knew he was lying Adama didn't make a big deal of it.

"Well sir, they brought her back. I haven't had a chance to really talk with my daughter about it yet, but she and the Earthers reported that her ECO was killed in an explosion that caused her FTL to malfunction. I have talked it over with the Earther's CO that they have the body in their possession and are standing by to hand him over."

"Well Commander…I…I'm at a loss for words here to be completely honest. If what you're saying is true then we've just found the Thirteenth Colony."

"Sir, they found us," Adama tersely replied, "And there is still the matter of this Earth vessel nearby. This Scout Ship of theirs is similar to our Raptors, I am convinced that there is a larger Earth vessel nearby. And from the evidence gathered sir I'd say it's a warship with unknown capabilities. If a civilian ship or the Cylons…"

"Leave that to me Commander, you just keep those Earthers in check and in place until the civilians get their heads out of their asses and get a diplomatic team out here. Which should be within an hour."

"Copy that sir," Adama said.

"And Commander…" Powers said, slightly annoyed by something on his end, "A Colonel Pyre from Fleet Intelligence says he will be putting your daughter into protective custody for debriefing and medical quarantine, aboard the _Zeus_, as well as your entire crew when a HAZOP unit is organized and dispatched from Aquarius. It's all protocol Bill, I'm sure you understand. Admiral Powers out."

Commander Adama's grip on the phone turned to a vice grip when he heard that last rushed statement from that young Admiral. He had just gotten his daughter back, now he was about to be separated again! He slammed the phone down into its socket loud enough to make everyone in the CIC jump in fright and surprise. Kelsey just stood there looking at her father and had a painted face of worry on it.

"Colonel you have the bridge, Lieutenant, come with me," he said lowly.

"Yes sir," Kelsey said as she and the rest of the CIC watched quietly as they left.

It did not take all that long before they had entered the Commander's quarters where he could finally talk with his daughter in private. She was scrutinizing his face now a mix of anger, indignation, and sadness. Apparently she was a mind reader as well, or she knew the protocol, because Kelsey knew exactly what would be happening.

"Sir, I know that I'm going to be debriefed by Fleet Intelligence," she stated bravely, "It's nothing I can't handle."

"I know, you've been through a lot over the past month Kelsey, and so have we. And now you're back from the dead it seems, and you brought the Thirteenth Colony with you. But I need you to tell me everything that happened there."

"Well...I didn't land on Earth first off," she started, "I crash landed on a planet they called an Alpha Site."

"So they have other worlds colonized."

"I don't think so, apparently the fact that they are space capable has been held back from the vast majority of Earth. They've been taking to the stars for more than a decade using some sort of device called a Stargate that can transport them to other planets without the need for ships," Adama scrutinized his daughter, "I'm not crazy, I was sent through it to Earth. It's a big stone ring with red glowing stones around along with dozens of different symbols. They claim to have been at war until they recently won."

"At war? At war with who?"

Battlestar Pegasus CIC

"Well isn't that interesting?" Colonel Belzen whistled as the transmission between the Battlestar _Galactica _and the Warstar _Zeus_ concluded.

"Yes very interesting, almost too good to be true," Rear Admiral Helena Cain grumbled as she picked up the head set.

"Did you get that Admiral Cain?" the voice of Admiral Powers spoke once the Galactica wasn't able to hear them.

"Every word."

"Good, now Admiral I have orders for you, take the _Pegasus _and two Cruisers and find the Earth ship this Scout Ship supposedly came from. We need to find it before some civie finds it, or worse, the press."

"Understood, and what are my orders if I come across it?" Cain said clearly and firmly.

"Do not fire, I repeat do not fire. If you do find the Earth ship, send a Raptor back here and report it. I'll have the Battlestars _Rycon, Odin_, and _Xenon_ along with their escorts on hot standby. If a Cylon ship finds the Earther ship, destroy it."

"And if a civilian ship finds the Earth ship?" Cain added.

"Seize it and place the crew under arrest. We can't let this get out before Command has the situation under control and the President makes the decision to tell the Quorum."

"Understood Admiral, out."

Belzen stared down at the plotting table as he thought over what he had just heard. It seemed to be quite an interesting set of orders, fairly unprecedented actually. Cain started barking out orders as her XO calmly thought to himself what his next words would be. Helena was not one to hear things she didn't like.

"Something on your mind Colonel?" Helena asked as she watched the DRADIS screen show them moving out of formation with the cruisers _Trinity _and _Goblin _falling into formation on both sides.

"Permission to speak freely?" he said with a stern expression that was very uncharacteristic of him.

Admiral Cain frowned, noticing the radical change in her normally calm and easy going XO, "granted, say what's on your mind Colonel."

"I have very bad feeling about this, I don't why…but I just can't shake the feeling that something is gonna happen."

Battlestar _Galactica _Starboard Hanger

The deck was still quite crowded, but at least there was a sense of crowd control. A large contingent of marines had set up a well secured perimeter around their craft which had been parked in an open spot out of the way so that normal flight operations could resume. Occasionally there were some Colonials who were just looking at the ship while on their off time that hadn't seen it already.

Mitchell, Carter, and Jackson walked to the U-306 and as they did the ramp dropped and Vala hopped out to greet them.

"Hey guys, how'd it go?" she chirped.

"Well, they invited their friends. Over twenty ships have taken up defensive formation around us. It seems that their protocol dictates that we be protected at all costs to avoid an 'incident.'" Mitchell answered as they walked in and closed the ramp to be able to speak freely.

"We've also learned that this ship we're on is a relic by their standards. It's forty years old and is slated for decommissioning and to be a museum ship," Carter added.

"This thing is a relic? It's huge!" Vala said unbelievingly.

"From what I have observed this culture seems to be relatively primitive compared to the technology in use by the Taur'i," Teal'c said, "Size does not seem to matter."

"He's right, their tech base is equivalent to what we are at right now, at least among our conventional military forces, but they seem to have a few advancements beyond their level of development," Carter said.

"The massive mile long warships included," Mitchell responded.

"Yes and the fact that they have a lot of them says that this is a people that's been space capable for a while now and has fought some major wars that would explain the large military presence," Jackson also put in.

"Who would they fight that they could beat?" Carter demanded.

"No civilization I am aware of, a Ha'tak could do major damage to an unshielded ship like this," Teal'c added.

"So there might be other potential powerful space faring civilizations out there we're bound to meet?"

"Well we haven't exactly seen this ship in action, and those guns on it were big, and there were a lot of them…" Vala pleaded, still remembering how menacing the _Galactica'_s dormant main battery looked from her point of view.

"Yes well…we have to acknowledge that we haven't seen them in action, perhaps they've improved on their weapons, or their systems, at this point in time we can't really make a fair assessment of their military capabilities," Carter summarized, finally putting out a final say.

"Okay aside from their military I've noticed that there really hasn't been much of sign of religious influence going on here, maybe Kelsey wasn't all that right about the role their religion played?" Daniel said.

"Or these people are disciplined enough to keep to their own first contact protocols."

"Okay good point," Daniel responded.

"But we have yet to meet with the civilian leadership of the Twelve Colonies," Teal'c noted.

"I overheard their XO say that a team should be here soon, so that will change," Colonel Mitchell responded.

"So what do we think?"

"They can't gamble very well…just an observation," Vala reported, hiding something in her pocket.

"Give it…" Jackson ordered, holding out his hand. Vala groaned in protest but then deposited a handful of gold and silver hexagonal coins in his hands, but managed to keep one or two in her hand. But Daniel wasn't stupid, "all of them…"

"Besides that I don't think we've got much to worry about. They have no shields, unknown weapon capabilities of a kinetic variety, and no visible sign of aggression."

"But all in all, the threat level…not as high as we were expecting," Carter put out after a brief pause, "I'm thinking that we can reasonably say that establishing diplomatic relations might just prove to be successful."

The team collectively nodded, and then turned their heads when there was a knock on the back hatch and a voice was heard calling them.

"Uh Colonel, the diplomatic team has arrived. We have orders to escort you to the meeting room."

"Well Jackson, your time to shine."

The group collectively got to their feet and opened the hatch and walked out with Vala and Teal'c staying behind as per the plan. The marines were tense and the deck seemed to be now in a state of depression. Then the sight of Lieutenant Kelsey Adama walking towards a Raptor with a bag thrown over her shoulder gave them a hint as to what was going on. She was leaving for some kind of debriefing or quarantine obviously, because the Raptor awaiting her had a crew in sealed suits with an odd symbol on their chests.

But the escorting marines were fairly adamant about the imperative for them to keep moving and within fifteen minutes of leaving the hanger bay they arrived at a large well-guarded door with civilian guards in black suits standing rigidly alongside the _Galactica_'s marines who were also present. The hatch was opened and they were ushered into the room after handing over their weapons as a normal safety precaution that was understandable. The marines allowed them to enter without being followed, allowing the civilian security team to take over for them. After all, they'd been on a constant state of alert for several hours now and were probably bound for a debriefing. It did seem as if these Colonials were very paranoid and cautious about this type of thing.

The group walked into a large cabin with a table set up in the middle of the room with a bunch of wooden chairs set up around the table. There were three Earthers could easily tell which side was meant for them because there were twelve men and women in civilian suits with stacks of papers in front of them. There were twelve folders holding huge stacks of paper, each one had the symbol for each of the zodiac symbols and the names of the Colonies written in black block letters.

"Hello," Dr. Jackson started trying to be the first to speak.

"Dr. Jackson I presume?" the eldest of the group stood up and offered his hand graciously which Jackson took and gave him a firm handshake.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you mister…" Jackson trailed off awkwardly not seeing a name tag anywhere on the man's person.

"Ambassador Sev Lauren, Caprican representative, and lead negotiator by order the President of the Colonies."

"A pleasure."

"Please take a seat Doctor, everyone please…" the ambassador pleasantly offered them seats which the Earth team took hesitantly, "Would you care for a glass of water? Or a meal of some sort? I understand that the _Galactica_'s kitchen staff is renowned throughout the Fleet."

"Oh no thank you, we ate before we left, shall we begin?" Dr. Jackson cordially spoke. His voice reflected years of practiced diplomatic expertise.

"Of course, allow me to introduce my fellow representatives…"

And so it began. After eleven cordial and friendly greetings the Colonial and Earth delegations were very much acquainted with one another. However not all the Colonials were the very friendly and welcoming. The representative from Tauron was exactly the type that could start them down a bad path. He seemed to be completely paranoid and hostile, everything that Jackson said he had something to say that Jackson had to be very careful to keep from making Earth out to be something hostile. Then there were the religious members of the group, most prominently the Gemenon representative. Every question she asked had something to do with the Lords of Kobol. Jackson was very careful not to say anything about the fact their own pantheon was now an object of ancient history on Earth, and that Earth now practiced many different religions. However the most clever and focused of the Colonials seemed to be a member of the delegation from Scorpio. He had remained silent, judging the Earthers' temperaments, and the manner in which they were answering questions. Then he spoke out loud for the first time since introducing himself.

"So Doctor Jackson, may I ask you a question?" he spoke firmly after Jackson had finished answering the question of the Gemenon woman with nonsense drabble about how Earth's governments didn't revolve around a state religion.

"Yes of course."

"How do we know you are from Earth? And not a member of some rogue group trying to gain attention?"

"Well you don't, I mean I can see how you would be cautious and pensive about this sort of thing. I would."

"So you would like to prove this yes?" the man pushed cautiously yet firmly.

"Well I wouldn't want to be seen as a rogue when we clearly aren't," Jackson responded sarcastically.

"Then there is only one way to prove that assertion, in my eyes. Physical proof."

"Are you asking for us to take you to Earth?" Mitchell said, leaning forward, his voice now deep and threatening. His military training had kicked in at this possible threat to Earth's security.

"Yes, I am. In the Colonies Earth is a very touchy subject, dozens if not hundreds of individuals step forward claiming to have either seen Earth or be from Earth. And each time they have been proven to be liars."

"Do you think we're lying?" Carter snapped.

"I didn't say that Colonel Carter, I am simply saying what our experience with situations like this has done. You say you rescued one of our pilots that crashed on your planet. How do we know you didn't kidnap and brainwash her after killing her ECO?" the Scorpio representative hissed.

"Are you accusing them of murdering an officer of the Colonial Fleet and holding another to be used in a scheme?" one of the other delegates replied to this shocking accusation.

"I am saying that we cannot take you seriously until you show us the proof."

Jackson eyed this man carefully. His watchful eye noticed something strange about him. He didn't hold himself like a diplomat, his eyes had a calculating and piercing stare that was far too hostile for a civilian diplomat. If a real diplomat had that kind of look in his eye while negotiating it could be said he had a threatening air to him, not something a peaceful negotiation wants. No, this man was not a civilian, he was an Intelligence Officer, whether he was military or something akin to the CIA or NSA was unknown but he was clearly trying to force them to show their hand.

"That proof you want is out of the question until we know that we can trust that we won't have an invasion fleet on our front door step if we take you to Earth," Carter replied, her own glaring threatening military stare piercing right into the Intelligence Officer who took it in stride, as he was prepared for that.

"You have your protocol, we have ours," Mitchell replied smugly.

"Then perhaps a compromise?" he said, "Our intelligence reports from what we heard in your transmission to the Battlestar _Galactica_ said your craft was attached to a ship you call the _George Hammond_, a warship correct?"

"Perhaps that can be arranged, Colonel Carter is the commander of the _Hammond _so the decision in the end is hers," Jackson replied, being sure not to confirm that they had a warship hiding in Colonial space, lest he stir up the Colonials.

"Then perhaps you can arrange for your ship to come here? Assuming it knows where you are," the Caprican representative said before the Intel man could speak again and make the entire mood calm down from the tense hostility the damned Intelligence man had created with the entire negotiations.

"Oh they know exactly where we are and what the situation is," Carter said, alarming the Colonials a great deal.

"Alright, so you think they could be here in short order?" one of the Colonials asked, hopeful for some sort of move towards a good way to confirm that these people were from Earth.

"Very quickly, we're still in communications range with our craft's long range communications system," Carter replied.

"So I guess on that high note we can conclude these negotiations?" one of the Colonials spoke up, standing up to shake the Earthers' hands politely, "And if perhaps continue…"

"Not at Earth," Mitchell growled at the Intelligence Officer who narrowed his eyes back at him.

"Of course, and we'll give you time to confer with your superiors."

"Very well, we'll have to go to our ship, we may have a long range communications system, but it's not that long ranged. The Hammond is capable of reaching Earth."

USS _General George Hammond _Near Ragnar Anchorage

The _Hammond_ was hiding out around a large blue gas giant where their sensors' abilities were greatly reduced. So it seemed to be a safe place for the lone Earth Battlecruiser to hide out in. But they were still able to detect the massive gathering of Colonial ships that had started around the place the Scout Ship manned by SG-1 had arrived at. Of course they were worried. But an all clear message from Colonel Carter had settled them down once first contact had apparently been made. But there'd been no contact since then. So the Hammond remained on hot standby. Her F-302's were armed and fueled, all the missile tubes were loaded with a mixture of nuclear ordinance and conventional missiles. But there were a great number of ships now present, so even the Asgard Plasma Beams were activated.

"Sir," a lieutenant at the console next to Hammond's XO, Major Harrison piped up.

"What do you have?" the young and jumpy major snapped.

"I'm not sure sir, it looks like another Colonial ship, one of their big boys, but it could be a civilian cargo ship for all we know of their ship types. It's jumped into our AO, it's about thirty thousand klicks away, and is closing in."

"Do we have a visual?" Major Harrison asked, leaning forward to look at the sensor readout.

"Not yet sir, it's blocked out by the gas giant."

"Have they seen us?" the major demanded.

"I can't tell, they've launched a fighter screen of about twelve small craft and have a few others branching out a bit farther. A CAP more than likely."

"Very well, take us into the gas giant, they won't be able to see us in there."

"Yes sir," the young officer replied tapping in a few commands which the agile Battlecruiser aptly obeyed and accelerated into the blue mess of clouds.

The sensors of the ship immediately suffered and long range sensors completely faded out. But the short ranged sensor sweeps were still able to keep track of the large Colonial ship trolling around outside the gas giant. The Hammond settled in, and waited, but the sensors weren't keen on waiting and soon found another, much larger target of interest deeper into the clouds of ionized gases that were lighting up with energized lightning storms that made the _Hammond_'s shields glow as they were hit by the lightning strikes.

"Sir, I've got an even bigger contact deep inside the cloud, definitely not an abnormality."

"Let me see that," Major Harrison ordered, leaning over to see what it was his officer was on about, and when he saw it he was amazed, "God damn…"

"Sir it's in the middle of a calm area of gas giant, it looks like a path leads into the clearing. It's probably a Colonial satellite."

"This means that we'd be spotted if we poked our nose out of the clouds, but this might be something else entirely, helm take us in."

The _Hammond_ gently crawled forward gently poking itself through the clouds with shields glowing from the constant attention of dozens of ionized lightning strikes. She was a big beacon that couldn't be ignored, and wasn't.

Battlestar _Pegasus_ CIC

_"What the frak is that?!"_

The sudden loud cry over the radio made everyone in the CIC jump out of their calm state of mind as the Pegasus scanned along the edge of Ragnar Anchorage for any sign of the Earth ship. Admiral Cain had dispatched a Raptor into the Anchorage itself to look for any sign the Earth ship had been there, normally the massive satellite nestled into the calm center of the gas giant was under the custodianship of a small corvette or destroyer with the occasional capital ship loading up supplies, ammunition, or weapons. However there was nothing there at the moment so she'd dispatched a Raptor just to take a quick peak. And boy did that pilot get more than a quick peak.

"Raptor Niner Five Zero report!" Captain Fisk demanded over the radio as the Raptor pilot babbled on.

_"Sir we've got visual on a…I don't know what it is! It just flew out of the gas giant clouds covered in a white light. Hold on…looks like it's clearing up. We're going in for a closer look."_

"Copy that."

Admiral Cain stood straight up and placed her hands behind her back, and started giving orders.

"Sound Battlestations, launch all Vipers. Helm take us into the Anchorage battle speed," she sounded off, an air of absolute concentration masked on her features, "I want every nuke we've got in a launch tube. Contact the _Trinity_ and _Goblin _and order them to get their asses here, and get a Raptor to the _Zeus_ and tell him to get the response force here right frakking now."

At first everyone hesitated, not really sure what to do, they'd never done anything like this outside of drills and practice during basic training and war games. But this was real.

"Now people let's move, get those birds in the air!" Colonel Belzen hollered, snapping the CIC out of their daze.

Across the Pegasus men and women rushed to their stations, pilots sprinted to the hanger and started jumping into the cockpits of their Vipers and Raptors as the deck crews scrambled to get the birds that weren't ready loaded up and fueled as the pilots rushed them on. Gun crews scrambled up the tight ladders of their large turrets and strapped themselves into the controls of their powerful weapons while others removed the safeties and the large turrets began to ascend out their protective housings. The massive power plants of the Pegasus went into over drive trying to keep up with sudden acceleration from the massive engine pods along with demand for energy from fire control computers starting up along with the numerous ammo lifts, safety locks, DRADIS scanners, launch tubes, and missile safeties being taken off, all at once.

The Pegasus's massive hull spun on a dime as she changed course and accelerated into the mouth of the Anchorage entrance faster than she should normally have entered. The Vipers came streaming out of her hanger bays with tense and excited pilots at the controls who screamed forward into the tube now filled with Colonial craft.

"_Pegasus this is Niner Five Zero_," came the sudden call over the radio.

Admiral Cain personally picked up the head set, "What do you see soldier?"

_"Admiral, it…it looks like a Battlestar, but a whole lot smaller. It's got two hanger bays, a long neck like section, and a large back heavy section in the rear paralleling the hanger pods. Hold on…sir it's seen us! They're coming about!"_

"Get out of there and rendezvous with the Pegasus," Cain ordered tersely.

_"Yes sir, on our way sir."_

"Could it be the Earth ship?" Belzen asked.

"I guess we're gonna find out."

**What a way to end it huh? With a cliffhanger…**

**So yeah sorry again about the wait, but at the current moment I am taking a college course that lasts four hours a day, every week day, for another week. So it's tough to find good writing time when my brain isn't completely fried by a professor I can barely understand. But as promised I have posted the sketches for three ships that will be making appearances in this story. You can find them on Deviantart, just type in "Stargate Ship: BB-305" for the Battleship picture, from there you can see the other designs by just clicking on the "BIG Z1776" in the "drawn by" part. There are also dimensions and stuff of that nature in the pictures' descriptions. I'll try to maybe get a Carrier design out there as well.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The **_**Hammond**_** and the **_**Pegasus**_** meet face to face, Kelsey is interrogated, again, and the **_**Enterprise**_** is born. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Here we are folks, another chapter, nothing much to report. Except for a design for an earth Carrier is in progress, but you'll hear about that later and learn about another surprise I'll have in store in future chapters. **

**Chapter 6**

Location: Ragnar Anchorage

Time: 1800 Lima

Date: June 21, 2014

When SG-1 came out of hyperspace to rendezvous with the _Hammond_ they were shocked to see a Colonial Battlestar diving into an opening in the blue gas giant. But what was even more surprising was the fact the _Hammond_ transponder was broadcasting from inside the gas giant as well.

"Cam punch it, looks like the _Hammond_'s been spotted," Carter said as they scanned the situation from afar.

"I can see that…" Mitchell growled as he punched it right towards the nebula where the massive Colonial ship was plowing full speed straight towards the _Hammond_ as it launched hundreds of dart like fighters.

"_Hammond _this is Colonel Carter do you read me?" Carter called over the encrypted radio frequency that they'd told the Hammond to tune into.

"Colonel Carter this is the _Hammond_ we read you," came the stressed and static filled reply. It must be the atmosphere, Carter thought as she tuned in again.

"What's the situation?"

"We've been found out, Colonial Battlestar has launched several hundred, repeat several hundred, fighters and has activated its main batteries. She's trying to block the entrance to the way with her sheer size," came the sketchy reply.

"I see that, have you been fired upon?" Carter called.

"Negative, she's still closing in with her fighters forming a very thick screen in front of us. Hold on, she's hailing us."

Battlestar _Pegasus _CIC

"Attention unknown vessel, this is the Colonial Battlestar _Pegasus_, identify yourself, over," Admiral Cain called out over the general broadband so that every Colonial warship nearby would be able to hear it.

A moment of silence held on for several seconds as the bridge of the _Pegasus_ collectively held its breath waiting for a response. The ship's entire Viper compliment had scrambled and was in a three layer thick formation covering the entire run to Ragnar Station with heavily armed Raptors dispersed among the more nimble Viper Mk. VII's. The unknown vessel had valiantly, if not foolishly in Cain's mind, had taken up position right in front of them and was staring down a ship more than seven times her own size.

"Attention Colonial Battlestar," came the long awaited reply, "This is the Earth Defense Ship _General George Hammond _answering your hail, over."

"So this is the Earthers' ship?" Belzen gawked, not very impressed.

"So it would seem," Cain replied, then turned her attention back to the Earth ship, "You are in a restricted military zone, please leave this area immediately."

"Very well, although it'll be hard to get past you and your ship without running you over," came the reply from the _Hammond_.

"Be advised Hammond, you try anything hostile we will destroy your ship," Cain hissed, her own anger beginning to boil.

There was a pause that Cain absolutely regretted_, I just threatened an Earth warship, the Thirteenth Tribe for frak's sakes._

"Good luck with that," came an amused voice over the radio that the _Pegasus_ CIC was totally unprepared for, "Now we're not going to try anything we have no wish to start a fight, we'll follow you out."

"Run us over?" came the shocked and offended cry from Captain Fisk, who took genuine offense, "she's barely the size of a destroyer! She'd be mincemeat in seconds. What in the Hell in wrong with them?!"

Cain shot a dangerous look at the older man who clamped his mouth shut immediately and then returned to his job.

"Understood, helm bring us about, but have our Vipers keep in close proximity to the Earth ship if it tries anything funny."

"What the frak is that thing?" came a sudden call from one of the Vipers.

"What do you see people talk to me!" Fisk immediately ordered after several more pilots began chattering as a strange contact broke through the clouds right towards the _Hammond_.

"No idea sir, but it just entered the Earth ship's starboard hanger."

"How'd that thing make it through the atmosphere, that sort of entry at that speed would rip a Viper apart!" Colonel Belzen whistled.

"Well these Earthers have a few tricks up their sleeves."

USS _General George Hammond_

"Ma'am, good to see you're alright," Major Harrison greeted his commanding officer thankfully as Colonels Carter and Mitchel, followed by Daniel, Teal'c, and Vala, walked onto the bridge.

"Good to be back, what's our status?" she replied taking her seat.

"Well the Pegasus just turned on a dime and is slowly pulling out to let us through. Most of her fighters are taking up escort positions on all angles. And it seems that the _Pegasus _invited some friends, we picked up an additional dozen ships in the area closing in fast."

"They sure have a lot of ships don't they?" Mitchell groaned looking at the sensor feed that showed three ships designated as Battlestars with three escorts each closing in tight formation.

"Yes they do."

Stargate Command, Earth

"Sir we've got an incoming call from the _Hammond_ over subspace channel," an SF reported to General Landry as he was busy looking over a report from SG-12, who'd just finished exploring a planet that the SGC was looking to set up a large permanent base on. In fact the gentlemen at the IOA were pushing for it to become a ship building hub because of the fact most of the smaller nations didn't have the space available to produce their own ships and voiced complaints of the Americans monopolizing the shipyards needed to produce Battlecruisers, Battleships, and the recently approved Carriers which would head fleet units. And they wanted a tropical paradise for an IOA exploration base.

"Patch it through to me," Landry ordered, pushing a button on his desk that brought up a thin glass screen from a slot at the end of his desk.

The large screen blinked a few times before the face of Colonel Carter showed up on it, with the words 'USS _General George Hammond'_ right beneath her face to show what ship the call was coming from. It was the latest and greatest means of communicating with far away ships and outposts without the need for a Stargate and Landry was glad for the innovation.

"Ah Colonel Carter, how goes the first contact with the Colonials?"

"Well sir it's a little tense but things are progressing quite nicely, the Colonials are genuinely suspicious we're a rogue branch of their own people but seem willing to entertain the idea of us being who we are."

Then the face of Dr. Jackson showed up, "But there is definitely a religious motivation in the civilian delegation that we met with. But their military forces are keeping to their own written protocol and haven't shown the slightest hint of being influenced by religion."

"I take that's a good thing?" Landry responded.

"Sort of, but their protocol seems to have been written by someone with real paranoia, they've already taken Kelsey in for debriefing and quarantine from what we saw. And they've already found where we hid the _Hammond_ and have taken serious measures to keep us out of their public's eye. At least a five of their Battlestars, which are four to seven times our size along with escorts have taken up position around the _Hammond_," Carter reported, "They've also quarantined the _Galactica_, the Battlestar we had first contact with."

"She's also failed to mention their biggest ship," Mitchell now spoke up, "General they've got a ship out here they call a Warstar, it's nearly four thousand meters long with several hundred guns of all sizes and more than five hundred fighters."

"Needless to say sir, General O'Neill's concept for the _Enterprise _is looking better and better the longer we're here."

"I knew it!" a happy voice cried out from Landry's door.

"Jack, you gotta stop doing that, you'll give me a heart attack," Landry breathed, a hand to his chest.

"Sorry 'bout that. How's it going Carter?" O'Neill chirped as he sat down in a chair across from Landry.

"Not bad sir, just reporting in," Carter smiled as she responded to her old CO.

"And Daniel, how goes the negotiations with the religious nutjobs?"

"Jack they're not nutjobs, and the negotiations are going fairly well actually. They seem genuinely interested in meeting us instead of converting us."

"That's always a plus…" O'Neill grinned, still seeing himself at the helm of the Enterprise, "And their ships…I assume they are large and advanced?"

"Large no, they're huge…" Mitchell corrected.

"Advanced, not so much…" Carter replied.

"Is there anything you need Colonel, just say the word and…poof, you have it."

Carter visibly grinned as she shook her head and then looked back at the camera, "Actually sir we could use some help. I think we need to bring Woolsey in on this along with a diplomatic team. We're dealing with some hard line pros. And well, Mitchell about tore the head off of one of them."

O'Neill cocked his head slightly, "Colonel?"

"He accused us of murder! I'm not letting him get away with that."

"And a much bigger ship please, whenever I look out a window at these floating goliaths I feel…puny," Vala whined off screen.

"Yes sir, having a Battleship with a few additional Battlecruisers would be fairly reassuring, they feel the incessant need to surround us because in their words: 'Our tiny ship is vulnerable,' and so we could use the help."

"The _Alaska _Battlegroup is fully equipped at the moment, we just need to get a team together and they can be there in moments," Landry said definitively.

"Send 'em," O'Neill ordered, his voice betraying how stern he was about the whole situation underneath the smile and laughter that made him O'Neill.

"Thank you sir, we'll be waiting."

Just like that the call was ended and the two generals leaned back to take in what they'd heard for themselves. O'Neill never really wanted to have any of his people in a situation like this, surrounded by a large fleet of large ships commanded by people who go berserk on them in a matter of moments for he knew. And with what he'd heard from Carter these Colonials were more than likely emboldened by the fact they knew their ships were much larger and more numerous than the single Battlecruiser. But the thing was, that lonely little ship probably had the ability to rip the Colonials to shreds if necessary, its Plasma Beams were absolutely invincible, only a Wraith Hive Ship doped up on power from a ZPM had held up against the sheer destructive might of the Asgard weaponry. And its shields could take the most punishment of any ship in the galaxy, so a bunch of heavy rail guns wouldn't even phase the ship if they could hit the dogfighting speed of the Hammond or any Earth ship at all! But the Colonials didn't know any of that. To them they were guarding a feather weight from roving pirates and medium sized asteroids. So it was clear that a passive show of force would have to be summoned to make the Colonials back off a little before something nasty happened because of the Colonials thinking of the Hammond as something they can push around.

"Well Jack, what do you think? These Colonials seem to have some real big ships and a lot of them. I hate to say it but looks like your flagship idea might just come to fruition," Landry grumbled.

"To tell you the truth I could have built it anyway, with or without the go ahead from Carter. I am the Head of Homeworld Defense after all," O'Neill said smugly, "But now I can have it built with her blessing, which helps a whole lot. Because…you know Carter, she has to have her pretty little nose buried into anything cool and exciting. And you know she'll throw her own weight behind this project."

"Speaking of new ships, a new design came through for an upgrade to the F-302. Turns out some up and coming Navy guy has figured out how we can double the size our F-302 fleet and make them all better."

"Really, a Navy guy?"

"Jack…"

"Sorry."

"He's figured that we can automate everything the back seater does and replace that space with a shield generator and improved systems. Then we put the back seater into his own fighter. And voilà two 302's for the price of one."

"That…actually, has promise, an enlarged fleet of shielded 302's. Those things are deadly now…but give 'em shields and then double their forces? That can be a game changer."

"That it can, it's because of that idea the CV-307 class has been approved. We'll now have Carriers."

"That's great, but too bad we can't exactly use those Carriers to hurt enemy ships very much. It's not like our missiles our much good against shields or a good flak screen."

"There's actually another reason the 307's have been approved, the geeks in the think tank took some inspiration from you actually, or one of your missions," Landry said leaning back, enjoying knowing these items of interest that O'Neill surprisingly didn't know.

"How come you know this and I don't?" O'Neill replied skeptically.

"I actually read the reports Jack, not just put them in a big stack."

"True, you were saying."

"Remember how you were able to use a temporary hyperspace window to jump past Anubis' ship's shields? A few years back? Well these guys have read over that, and thought to themselves, wait a minute, why not cut out the middle man and strap a tiny hyperspace generator to a missile with a nuke attached to it and launch it from a fighter?"

"That's…wow why didn't we think of that earlier?" Jack grumbled sitting back in the seat thinking of the possibilities this missile could potentially have.

"Tell me about it, with this missile our Carriers can pack the punch of a dozen Battlecruisers, all in a package a little bit larger than a Battleship."

"Man, imagine what the Enterprise could do…well, see ya Tom, I have a ship to build and a Navy man to promote for giving the F-302 its bite back."

Unknown Location, Cylon Space

The rhythmic click of a pair of high heels echoed through the hall of the lone Cylon Basestar hiding out near the border of Colonial Space. The platinum blonde hair of the Cylon Number Six walking quite quickly bounced around as Centurions eyed her carefully, their swinging red eyes examining her for any possible threats that might be concealed on her person. But they resumed their duties of idly standing in the hall, awaiting orders as she passed.

The mind of the lone Cylon woman was racing, something had happened, something totally unforeseen. She had to alert the others to this intriguing and dangerous possibility. The doors to the basestar's bridge and CIC opened quickly and cleanly revealing the whole of the human form Cylons in command on the bridge. Every one of the eight models except the Number Seven model were present. She pondered why the Sevens weren't represented here, in fact the Sevens were never present for anything. None of the Sixes even remembered what they looked like, but whenever the subject of the absent Sevens was brought up Cavil, and the other Ones, would state every single Seven was under cover among the Colonials or out exploring and was very shy and hard working with no interest of being involved in the politics of the Cylon hierarchy. And they'd just leave it at that.

But this was important, and this Six needed to tell the others, the fate of their long awaited vengeance depended on it.

"Why have you called us here Six?" one of the Threes asked.

"Yes and do be quick, I have some pressing work to complete on the model of Heavy Raider," a Two put out.

"It seems there's been a development in the Colonies," she paused to make sure the entire group was paying attention, "The Thirteenth Colony has returned."

"Impossible, the Thirteenth destroyed themselves thousands of years ago, the Final Five told us so!" a One roared.

"Apparently not all of them were gone. Six hours ago one of our listening posts detected a spike in Colonial fleet movements centered around the Warstar _Zeus_ and the whole of Battlestar Group Thirteen. These ships rendezvoused with the Battlestar Galactica and then after several more Colonial ships spread out again they converged here, at Ragnar Anchorage. It was here we detected another ship, not a Colonial ship, but of a completely different type and model than any we've seen before."

"So? It is no secret the Colonial Intelligence branch operates ships not even we have seen before," a Four piped up.

"Yes, but a diplomatic team comprised of representatives of all twelve Colonies isn't sent to these ships. And they then don't go and quarantine an entire Battlestar and move a detachment of their best interrogators from Aquarius to debrief a rookie Lieutenant, who was listed as MIA for an entire month."

"What is her name?"

"Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, daughter of Commander William Adama," the Number Two said.

"Adama? That infernal Husker the Centurions rage about?" the Three gasped.

This gained the attention of every Cylon in the room, except the Centurions, they couldn't comprehend what was happening anyway, they had it easy, stand around, kill when ordered, then stand around again.

"Well, it seems we're in the need of more information…" an Eight mumbled.

"Do we have anyone on site?" asked a Two.

"Yes, we have a Four posing as an Intelligence Colonel aboard the _Zeus_. We also have a Five implanted among the marines on board as well. He has access to her."

"I vote that we contact him and have him abduct her and bring her here," a One spoke up, "All in agreement?"

"Wait! What are you thinking? Surely the Colonials will be able to track the Raptor he'll use to escape," a Six piped up.

"Ragnar Anchorage is within jump range of us, we can easily jam any automated transmission the Raptor can make. We've tested it before, I'm one hundred percent certain that once she's in Cylon space she'll never be found," that same One responded.

"Very well, I second the motion," a Number Two raised his hand.

"I as well," the Eight said.

Gradually every Cylon raised a hand and reached consensus. Lieutenant Kelsey Adama was now a Cylon target.

Warstar _Zeus_, Isolation Room

Lieutenant Kelsey Adama had obeyed her orders to the letter since arriving aboard the_ Zeus_ under the protection/custody of a squad of HAMAT suited Intelligence soldiers. They'd first put her through an hour of medical scans, tests, and whatnot to be sure she didn't contract anything that would be able to spread to the other members of the crew.

Now she was locked away in a rubber encased room with a pair of wooden chairs, a makeshift cot, and a table. It felt more like a prison cell than a debriefing room. A one way mirror was in front of her as she sat in the chair very uncomfortable with the knowledge a lot of cameras and eyes were watching her every movement. So when the door finally opened and a single man wearing the black uniform of an Intelligence Officer walked she was grateful the passive watching was over.

"Colonel sir," she snapped off, standing up with a crisp salute at the Colonel who had walked in. He was a well-manicured man with dark skin but a very friendly expression. Well, for a spook.

The officer chuckled and returned the salute gently, "At ease Lieutenant, it's quite alright. You can skip the formalities with me."

"Thank you sir."

"Please, be seated Lieutenant Adama. Now…on to business," the Colonel placed a recording device on the table and switched it on, "I'm Colonel Pyre, Fleet Intelligence. Please state your name."

"Uh…Lieutenant Kelsey Adama," she said nervously.

"Thank you, it's quite alright Lieutenant, relax, no one's going to hurt you. Except for the doctors who practically drained you of blood for testing. Now, please tell me what happened in your own words."

"Well, a month ago I was assigned by Galactica's CAG to take my Raptor to Caprica to pick up some Cylon War veterans who served aboard the Galactica for a good will mission of some sort. I mean those guys are about to see their ship become a museum," she hesitated seeing the cold eyes of the man staring at her, "Sorry. Anyway, my ECO, were cleared for FTL, he spun us up and plugged in the coordinates. But…when I triggered the FTL, nothing happened. After a moment Eyeball said our FTL was flooding and was about to overload before an explosion erupted from the back of the bird."

"An explosion?"

"Yes sir, the…explosion sent shrapnel into his neck, and killed him instantly. I went to check on him but there was nothing I could do, then another explosion from the controls erupted and I took some shrapnel in my left leg. I then tried to get into my chair and when I did the FTL drive activated and my instruments said we were losing altitude. The FTL flash was brighter than any I've seen before and I was blinded. Several more explosions sent shrapnel into my hands and my shoulder and I really began losing blood as the Raptor plummeted into the atmosphere of what I thought was Caprica. I had no visibility and no control so I strapped in and ejected. I was about to pass out when I managed to pull the chord on my chute. Then…I blacked out. I never even remembered hitting the ground."

"What do you remember happening next Lieutenant Adama?"

"I…woke up in a hospital bed, at first I thought I was in a military hospital, but when I woke up an armed guard in full combat gear a lot like what marines or Army use was standing there. But the uniform was digital patterned, his weapon was different than any other rifle I'd ever seen, the patches on his arms were different and there were books and pictures cut in a perfect rectangle, no corner cutting like we do."

"So you were under armed guard?"

"Yes sir, he called out for a Doctor, and a woman wearing a lab coat over a uniform walked over with another guard and she basically did what any other Colonial Doctor would do. Asked how I was feeling, checked some bandages on my leg and shoulder, and tried to engage in small talk."

"And what happened then Lieutenant?" Colonel Pyre said encouragingly.

"Well, I asked where I was, and it was her answer that got me realizing I wasn't under the care of Colonial military personnel. She responded that I at a base on a planet she named with a weird sequence of letters and numbers. Then I began thinking that I was captured by the Cylons and that my mind was being probed or something like that. Apparently the guards interpreted my actions as hostile and then actually aimed their weapons at me. That's when I saw the patch on their shoulders."

"And what was on the patch?"

"The symbol of Earth, it matched exactly from what was discovered on Gemenon several weeks ago. I only remembered because I read an article about it before I left. But there was no mistaking it, so I asked to speak with their leaders. And they obliged, and so they sent me through a device they called a Stargate and I don't know how, but I was just there. It's difficult to explain sir but they say it is a wormhole that allows them to travel between worlds and even galaxies within a seconds!"

Kelsey looked to the Intelligence Officer who wasn't looking at her the same way he was earlier, the calculating stare was now replaced by something akin to a blank expression, as if his mind were in a faraway place. But the oddest thing was she could have sworn his eyes blinked red, not even a split second but she couldn't be certain. However, his next action is what really weirded her out.

"Excuse me Lieutenant," he said, getting up after a second and took the recording with him.

"That was weird," she mumbled to herself as he leaned out of the door.

"Lieutenant, come with me, I just got word from Command, and you're coming with me to Picon Fleet Headquarters."

"Yes sir, will my CO know that I'll be leaving?"

"He will," the Colonel replied, "Come on, a Raptor's being prepped. I hope you don't mind flying, it's been quite a long time since I've flown a Raptor."

"No sir, I'd love to be in the cockpit again," she obediently replied, thankful she wasn't going to be treated like a dangerous and fragile piece of pottery at least.

"Very well, if you'll follow me."

Kelsey grabbed her bag that had some extra clothes tucked neatly inside just in case she stayed for a long time. But something nagging at her said this was not going to be a short stay. However the lingering doubts were shoved aside, and were replaced by a fervent loyalty to her duty. Colonial Command needed to know this stuff, perhaps they knew some of it already and weren't all that keen to have hear say it in an unsecured location? Many thoughts ran through her mind as she finally made it to the Number Three Hanger of the _Zeus_.

The _Olympus_ class Warstars were unique among Colonial ships as they had four flight pods instead of the standard two. Each pod held a total of nearly two hundred Vipers and fifty Raptors. The decks were doubled up like the _Mercury_ class Battlestars to provide a quick means of recovering Vipers. And were absolutely covered in gun batteries of all kinds. So this ship was anything but normal sized.

"There, hop in Lieutenant," Colonel Pyre pointed at a Raptor that was being brought to the hatch to be lifted off into the vacuum of space.

She was pushed forward hurriedly by the nervous spook who was now doing some things that made Kelsey very much uneasy. There were several marines that looked at her strangely. Some put their hands to their headsets trying to gain information on whether or not Kelsey was supposed to be there. But one Marine casually walked over near the control panel that controlled one of the airlocks and elevators that allowed Raptors to be launched and all craft to be recovered.

"Get in," the Colonel ordered, now being very forceful as she started up the wing into the Raptor's cockpit. But then a loud yell from behind her made Kelsey stop.

"Colonel!" it was the Deck Chief of the _Zeus_, "What do you think you're doing with my bird?"

"We're taking it to Picon, Command wants to debrief the Lieutenant. Stand aside," Colonel Pyre said with a relaxed wave.

"Then why haven't I been told?" the Chief asked suspiciously, mostly unhappy that one of his Raptors was being commandeered.

"That's classified," Pyre calmly stated as he made his way nearly inside the cockpit where Kelsey was going over the instruments, being certain that everything was ship shape.

"Classified my ass, all outgoing missions are through the CAG and me, and you weren't on the list, sir."

"I don't answer to the CAG, now get this craft moving so I can leave, that is an order!"

At first the Chief hesitated, but then stood his ground. Pyre looked down, examining the position of the Raptor and saw it was on a lift that moved straight up into the ceiling and would let the single Raptor be launched with the push of a button by the walls. There was wall behind him and on the sides, so he now took his chance.

"Do not close that door!" the Chief ordered, making one of his knuckle draggers back away from the control panel obediently.

"Well then Chief…" and with one smooth Pyre pulled out his weapon.

A single pistol shot slammed into the body of the big Chief with enough force to send him straight to the floor. Blood sprayed up and the tattered hole of his uniform started seeping blood. Kelsey saw this, and attempted to attack Pyre but before she could make one move the smoking barrel of the pistol was inches from her forehead.

"I need you alive Lieutenant, but I don't care what condition you're in," he spoke with an even drag as he shoved her back into the ECO seat of the Raptor and shut the hatch. Several marines began firing at the Raptor but only one shot managed to do anything significant, but no one could really tell, not yet.

As he did that the doors started closing and the undercover Number Five let loose with his Assault Rifle, downloaded marine instincts kicking in as he mowed down a half dozen technicians and pilots near the control panel and slapped the red button that started the process for the Raptor to be sent up the elevator where it would launch. But the marines aboard the _Zeus_ reacted quickly and bullets started pounding the Viper he had taken shelter behind.

But he coolly reloaded a fresh magazine and returned fire, killing a lone marine who was rushing down the catwalk to get on his flank. The man went down silently, and dropped like a bag of potatoes. Several more marines were charging down the open center of the deck and poured fire into the armed, and fueled, Viper Mk VII. The Cylon agent fired a burst that brought down another pair of unfortunate marines. But before he could do more damage a single burst of fire from behind him hit home. Three full metal jacket rounds cut clean through the back of his vest and exited through his chest. He collapsed to the ground and only managed a pained cough of blood before shrugging his shoulders and resigned himself to the fact he'd only managed to take a few Colonials with him instead of the whole Warstar like he wanted to. The last thing he saw was a solid wall of Marines surrounding him before he was sent off to be reborn in the nearest Resurrection Ship.

"What the frak are you doing?!" Kelsey screamed as Pyre calmly forced her down into the pilot seat.

"Fly us out of here, now," Pyre ordered calmly, ignoring the demand from the terrified young Colonial.

"No, you say you need me alive, and you need me to fly you out of here," Kelsey crossed her arms and refused the directions from her captor.

"Fine, out of the chair, Lieutenant," he said, pulling her out of the pilot's chair forcefully by her hair, causing her to let out an involuntary pained scream.

He shoved her down onto the floor and wrenched her hands behind her back. Kelsey struggled at first but then stopped when she felt the gun against her back. It didn't take long for Pyre to tie industrial strength zip ties around her wrists and tighten them to the point of pain. He got up off of her and then calmly sat down at the ECO station and then started plugging in coordinates for a jump.

"What are you doing you can't jump on the hanger deck!" she yelled frantically, seeing what he was planning.

"Yes I can Lieutenant, nothing's stopping me."

"But you'll…hmph!" she screamed as Pyre finally had enough of her yelling and stuffed a rag into her mouth that was probably used for cleaning the screens of dust. Before she could spit the horrible tasting cloth out it was sealed in by a strip of tape.

"Lieutenant, what makes you think that I care if I basically rip open your mighty Warstar's hanger, hmm?" the man said as he typed in the final coordinates, and jumped.

From space it looked like the _Zeus_'s upper port hanger ripped itself open with no warning whatsoever. Instantly air began venting from the deck and sucked out equipment, fighters, and crewmembers. The sudden jolt caused the ship to start a lateral spin that the other ships instantly veered away from. But several Vipers and Raptors that were inside the other pods were tossed about and jostled quite badly and cracked the canopy on a few. Other decks felt the jolt as nothing but a shudder thanks to the sheer size of the vessel but the alarms definitely betrayed the seriousness of the situation.

The Colonial formation scattered and the single Earth ship in their midst maneuvered clear of the Colonial formation and then caught sight of a little blip on its long range sensors that had not been there earlier then it alerted a formation of its sister ships. But at the center of the four ship formation of Battlecruisers was something twice their size. So each of the Earth vessels heeled over and made the jump straight at the unknown contact.

**Another one already? Am I spoiling you guys or what? Just kidding, I honestly appreciate the reviews, faves, and follows the story has been getting? And guess what? In just over a month this has racked up well over 13,000 views! I think I'm the one getting spoiled. Thanks again, don't forget to press that review button please and let me know what you think.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Cylons meet something bigger and badder than the **_**Hammond**_**. And the Colonials get to watch.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Okay, I'm feeling fairly confident right now. The story's doing fairly well, the plot is progressing nicely, and I have some time to kill so here we go, another chapter.**

**Chapter 7**

Location: Ragnar Anchorage

Time: 2000 Lima

Date: June 21, 2014

The Colonial fleet was in chaos, the massive Warstar was still badly damaged from the sudden tear in its Number Three flight pod and now command of the fleet fell to the next most senior officer until the _Zeus_ had its situation under control. Rear Admiral Cain now grouped the fleet around the _Zeus_ to protect it and had scrambled damage control parties from each ship to be ready to assist the flagship should they be needed. However the Earth Battlecruiser _General George Hammond_ had left the formation and was hovering nearby with every one of its systems fully activated and ready for action.

Colonel Carter had been going over a status report from engineering when the _Zeus_'s pod had burst open and sent debris, small craft and people floating into space. She then maneuvered the Hammond to get out of the way of the spinning goliath as the entire formation split and dodged away. After seeing the damage with the Hammond's superb scanners she'd put the ship on high alert and activated every sensor they had. What they found was quite curious. A single small contact not too far away had appeared out of nowhere at the exact same time as the _Zeus_ was damaged. So the contact was marked and Carter decided to divert the incoming _Alaska_ Battlegroup to take a quick peak at what the contact was.

"Colonel," Major Harrison called from his station, "I'm getting an incoming call from the Battlestar _Pegasus_."

Carter nodded, I knew they'd want to speak with us, "Put it through."

"Yes ma'am."

"This is Colonel Carter," she said into the mike she always had in her ear, "What's the situation?"

"I can't tell you that right now Colonel," the voice of Admiral Cain replied, "I'm going to have to ask you to return your ship to the safety of the formation."

"I'm sorry Admiral I can't do that. I'd feel safer with my ship in open space with room to maneuver."

"Colonel, I have explicit orders to keep the _Hammond_ tucked away in our formation, I understand your reasoning, but I have my orders," Cain said, keeping an even tone.

"So do I. I also feel the need to inform you that an Earth Battlegroup has been dispatched escorting our civilian delegation. The _Hammond_ will join that formation when it arrives. But first I must know what the situation is," Carter replied, trying to keep an even tone as well.

"I'll tell you what we know as of now; there was an unauthorized FTL jump within the hanger of the_ Zeus_. She's suffered minor damage. But it seems that Lieutenant Adama was aboard that Raptor, reports are sketchy so far but we believe she was abducted."

"Abducted?!" Carter stammered.

"We don't have solid facts yet, but so far it seems to be the case."

"Well, if that's true we can collaborate the report of an FTL jump. Our sensors picked up a small contact relatively nearby. It appeared at the precise time the Zeus took that damage."

"Can you give us the coordinates? This is a Colonial matter Colonel, it's our job to go after her," Cain demanded.

"Our Battlegroup has been rerouted to investigate, they'll be there in a few moments."

"Colonel, I have to tell you give us the coordinates, this is a Colonial matter," Cain repeated again.

"Fine, we're sending you the coordinates. Admiral, she was with us for a little over a month, and to us she's not just some pilot who made first contact. She was a friend. Listen, we have a great deal of experience in operations like this and have the technology and ships nearby to make it happen."

"Colonel, I'm not sure if you have any idea whose territory those coordinates are in. That space is controlled by the Cylons," Cain breathed out, fury inching into her tone.

"Cylons?"

"Our enemy, we fought a war against them forty years ago that cost us millions of lives. You have no chance against them, not with a ship like yours. Only Battlestars can take a Cylon ship one on one."

Carter fought the urge to snap back at Cain with a retort about how the Hammond could rip apart anything the Colonials could throw at them but resisted, "Are their ships anything like yours?"

"Slightly smaller, but they still dwarf yours, they also have a much large fighter compliment and are more focused on missiles instead of cannons."

"Then we won't have a problem, we've fought ships eleven times our size and came out on top while being outnumbered at the same time and they could have torn a Battlestar apart."

There was a pause on the other end as the Colonials were no doubt laughing at the audacity of the Earth ship's commander. But when Cain came back she had a tone in her voice that would have made a Gou'ald cringe in fear.

"Colonel I don't like liars, the mere thought that your puny tub could beat even the Galactica is laughable at best."

"Then we invite you to send over an officer with explicit knowledge of Cylon weapons and tactics, because we're going to help our friend," Carter snapped.

Battlestar_ Pegasus_ CIC

Cain slammed the head set onto the plotting table in front of her, enraged at the audacity of Colonel Carter to say that something as pathetic looking as the Hammond could beat more than one Battlestar at one time. Several crewmen had laughed out loud at the proclamation from the gutsy Earther, while others had been genuinely intrigued. But it seemed that try as she might they were going to mount their own rescue mission with or without the Colonials' consent.

"So what do we do? It's clear we can't stop them from trying," Colonel Belzen carefully spoke.

"If they're so adamant about fighting the Cylons let them, but they need someone to keep them from being blown apart by the toasters. But who to send?"

"Admiral if I may?" Captain Fisk piped up.

"Let me hear it Fisk."

"Admiral only one man has that kind of experience with fighting the Cylons, and he also has a personal stake in this."

"Adama?" Belzen gawked.

"He's the most experienced officer in the entire Fleet, if anyone knows how to beat the Cylons it's him," Fisk replied.

Cain nodded, appreciating what it was Fisk was saying. It was true, Commander Adama was the most seasoned veteran in the Fleet, he'd fought the Cylons in every battle since the Ghost Fleet campaign halfway through the war. So if these Earthers wanted to prove themselves by tangling with Basestars then only one person could give them a fighting chance. And Cain also understood one other point Fisk made, he had a personal stake in the success of the mission, it was his daughter that was the focus of the mission.

"Get me the _Galactica_."

USS _General George Hammond_

"Colonel Carter, we've got a positive ID of the contact. It's a Colonial Raptor alright," came the voice of the commanding officer of the_ Alaska_ Battlegroup, "But it's rendezvoused with four large ships that appeared right after we showed up. We're out their sensor range and they're holding position. However we lost her among so weird life signs readings. Ma'am I don't know what to make of it but we have no idea where in the ship she is. Awaiting orders."

"Very well Colonel, we're bringing aboard a few Colonials who knows all about these Cylons. We'll be there in just a moment," Carter replied ending the transmission.

She walked away from the screen in the back of the bridge and then started fiddling with a tablet, going over her ship's status for herself. But then she heard Mitchell enter the bridge with the familiar imposing figure of Commander Adama behind him along with two of his pilots. Adama was wearing his normal blue and maroon dress uniform while his pilots were wearing flight gear. Each had a pistol holster that was empty thanks to the security personnel of the Hammond removing them.

Carter had been barely allowed to let commander Adama aboard. O'Neill had at first been very adamant that no Colonials were to see them in action unless it was absolutely necessary for them to defend themselves. Landry had felt the exact same way, however Jackson had gone on to point out the Colonials had been getting more and more pushy and aggressive thanks to the fact they had ships quite a bit larger than the Hammond. Carter also stated that Kelsey had seen quite a bit of Earth technology and if these Cylons were as hostile as the Colonials said then that kind of information was critical to Earth's security. Jackson also wisely stated that a show of force against the Colonials' enemy to rescue Kelsey would be a good step towards establishing friendly relations and making the Colonials back off a bit. But that still didn't do it for O'Neill, so Jackson pulled out the "he's family" card, which guilt tripped O'Neill, who knew the connection between a father and his children, into giving the go ahead. So, without consulting the IOA in any manner O'Neill and Landry approved.

"Commander, welcome aboard the _Hammond_," Carter greeted holding out a hand.

"It's an honor, may I introduce Captain Lee Adama, call-sign Apollo, and Lieutenant Kara Thrace, call-sign Starbuck," he gestured to the man and woman staring out at the window of the _Hammond_'s bridge.

"Are you Earthers' trying to kill yourselves?!" Starbuck blurted.

"Excuse me?" Carter replied.

"The window, how have you been in combat and not compromised your ship?" Apollo reasonably added.

"Well, we don't rely on armor like you do," Carter said back, taking a seat at her chair, "We have something…different."

"Different?" Apollo asked.

"We're ready to make the jump to rendezvous point," Major Harrison reported.

"Thank you Major, open hyperspace window," Carter ordered.

Immediately the purple greenish tint of hyperspace enveloped the ship and within a matter of seconds the Hammond reemerged in front of a formation four Earth Battlecruisers and a single Earth Battleship. The Colonials were quite perplexed by the odd method of faster than light travel but before any of them could say a word Carter spoke up as the Hammond maneuvered into formation.

Ever since the direct threats to Earth itself had been defeated and the fleet began growing it seemed necessary to fold the more experienced Battlecruisers and their veteran crews into new formations to make sure that in every formation of Earth ships there was some experience to back the arduous training every single crewman and pilot received. Normally the Hammond was attached to the _Alaska _Battlegroup, along with its newer All-American sister ships, the _Gemini, Endeavor, Phoenix_, and _Prometheus_ (It was decided that Earth should always have a _Prometheus_ in the fleet to honor the memory of Earth's first starship.). But the central ship of the formation was the _Alaska_, the first of the Taur'i Fleet's Battleships. At four hundred and fifty meters long it was quite a bit larger than the escorting Battlecruisers in formation around it. With seventy rail guns, thirty vertical missile tubes, and a primary battery of eight Asgard Plasma Beams it was the most powerful ship in the known galaxy. It also carried a fighter compliment of thirty-two F-302's, also making it the largest in terms of crew, most of its systems were highly automated but it still needed a standard compliment of three hundred. But another advantage the_ Alaska_ and her sisters had was it could replenish ammunition, fuel, food with a matter synthesizer built into the design for both itself and the other ships in the formation. And to top it all off, their shields were twice as strong as a Battlecruiser. It seemed that the state of _Alaska_ now had a true Battleship bearing its name, even if secretly.

"Commander, perhaps you'd like to inform us of what we might be facing?" Carter swiftly asked, swiftly changing the subject.

"I would as a matter of fact. I assume you've never fought the Cylons?" Adama said tactfully, rolling his shoulders back and got into the zone.

"No, that's why you're here."

"The Cylons' primary ship of the line is what we call a Basestar. They're big, not terribly fast, and they prefer to use massed waves of Raiders and missiles. Their armor is decent but in our experience has lacked the necessary strength to really shrug off repeated broadsides from our Battlestars. If you can draw away their Raiders and intercept their missiles they're as good as dead."

"And what sort of missiles can we expect to see coming our way?" Colonel Carter said.

"The Cylons have four basic types. Two are ship launched, two are Raider launched. The first and most deadly are their nuclear warheads, and the second are their high explosive missiles. What they'll do is they'll launch a salvo of nukes before they launch their own Raider squadrons, it's designed to force the target's fighter screen to intercept these missiles and draw them away from the swarming Raiders that are always coming right behind the nukes. They're relatively low yield, but repeated strikes are enough to cripple a Battlestar. The next missiles to come next are their standard warheads. They try to target these into hanger bays, gun batteries, and weak points from any hits their nukes managed to open up. The guidance system on these warheads is complex and accurate, if you give them a straight shot they'll hit their target within inches."

"I see why your ships are so heavy on flak cannons," Mitchell grumbled.

"They do the job," Adama nodded.

"You said they carry fighters? What can you tell us about them?" Carter replied.

"We call them Raiders, the ones I fought were fast and maneuverable, and thanks to a Cylon at the controls, they were impossibly well coordinated. They had a habit of luring a smaller force of Vipers into a trap and use sheer numbers to swarm and destroy their intended target. They are armed with cannons and missiles. A smaller more pin point nuclear warhead, and an anti-fighter missile. But it's been nearly forty years since I fought them so they are bound to have made some improvements."

"And the Cylons themselves?" a deep burly voice grumbled from the hall, all heads turned to see Teal'c, standing with his hands behind his back.

"They're robots, around six and a half feet tall, heavily armored but aren't that fast in a firefight. However whatever they aim at they hit, one of the perks of being robots."

"What kind of weapons work against them?" Mitchell demanded.

"Heavy machine guns, armor piercing rounds, and explosives. But in a desperate situation I always found a good old fashioned beat down works as well," Adama grumbled.

"Have you fought these Cylons in close combat?" Teal'c asked.

"Once or twice," he grumbled as he surveyed the gathered fleet of Earth ships, "But it was a long time ago."

"Thank you Commander," Colonel Carter spoke up, then she placed her had to her ear to contact the other ships in the fleet. She turned away from the Colonials standing looking out at the amasses Earth fleet and began talking quietly amongst themselves.

"Do you think she's still alive?" Apollo was the first to speak.

"To be honest, I don't know," Adama whispered, "In the last days of the war the _Galactica_ was part of a three Battlestar Task Force that participated in Operation Raptor Talon."

"Yeah I remember that, the _Colombia_ was destroyed with all hands," Starbuck grumbled.

"When the _Colombia_ went down I chased a pair of Raiders into the planet's atmosphere and we collided, so I ejected and landed inside a Cylon lab. What I saw was…" the old man paused trying to find words to describe it, "They'd been experimenting on humans, trying to build something. A hybrid of biological and mechanical material."

"Oh Gods…" Apollo breathed afraid now of what might have befallen his only sibling, "We have to get her back before…"

"Nothing will happen to her," Starbuck hissed, "I'll see to it."

"No offense Starbuck but I don't even you can take four Basestars," Commander Adama grumbled.

"Watch me," the cocky blonde grinned as Colonel Carter walked up to them.

"Alright we've pinpointed which Basestar she's aboard and the fleet is prepped and ready. I suggest that your pilots man their fighters."

"Captain, Lieutenant, man your planes," Adama ordered, and received salutes from the two pilots who'd be joining the one hundred and twelve F-302's. As they left Carter walked up next to Adama and quietly said to him.

"Commander, I didn't want to bring this up with your pilots nearby. But when you arrived we scanned your Vipers and the Raptor you came on and noticed something in its programming. A virus, we took the liberty of removing it after running simulations on what they're effects would be."

"A virus? What did it do?" Adama hissed.

"It would have shut down every system on your ships. We have reason to believe that the programming is Cylon. So after the mission you'll need to alert your superiors, because it might have infected your entire network."

"Thank you Colonel, now, shall we begin?"

Cylon Basestar

The Raptor was easily flown into the bay of the massive gaping hanger of the Cylon Basestar with the Cylon Number Four and a bound and gagged Kelsey Adama inside. She couldn't help but gaze out at the insides of the Cylon ship and be both disgusted and mesmerized. It wasn't the cold chromed appearance that she'd heard about and seen in film and documentaries. Instead it was a gritty, fleshy biological material that made up the inside of the hanger. The Raptor just descended and landed with a soft squishy thump.

"Welcome aboard Lieutenant," Pyre chirped, then calmly walked to the hatch and opened it.

A million thoughts flooded her brain as she tried to make a guess at what would become of her. She was roughly hauled to her feet despite her thrashing and was shoved out of the Raptor. However her foot caught and she tripped and tumbled forward roughly striking her head on the steel wing of the ship before rolling off and flopping down onto a soft slimy floor. She groaned into the gag as the pain in the side of her head throbbed about violently.

As she tried willing the pain to die away a soft hand brushed aside her hair over the place she'd hit her head. She could feel the sensitive stinging pain of the growing lump on her head already as a rather pleasant almost calming accented voice spoke.

"It's just a bad bump, no permanent damage, but it will hurt," the feminine voice said rolling Kelsey onto her side.

She came face to face with a Cylon Number Three, her blonde hair was curled and wavy and a pink lipstick was excellently applied. She wore a white suit jacket with a black V-Neck shirt underneath it. She had on a pair of black business pants like Kelsey's own mother would where to her day job in the office. But it was what was silently standing behind the woman is what terrified the young Colonial. A pair of massive Cylon Centurions stood side by side awaiting orders. Their red glowing eyes were swaying from side to side, scanning back and forth. They were not like the Centurions portrayed in museums and films, they were more streamlined, smooth edges, and much more armored.

"Bring her," Pyre ordered, and Centurions took several loud steps forward and hardly struggled to grab both of Kelsey's arms and lift her to her feet.

She grumbled and yelled into the gag as she tried resisting the Centurions' iron grips. But all the sound that she made was muffled through the cloth shoved in her mouth and the tape holding her mouth shut. More than once having her boot cut through the fleshy membrane that was the floor and getting stuck in the metallic piping and electrical wires underneath. The two Cylons led the way confidently, talking about the latest innovations, news, and most importantly. The contact the Colonies had recently had with the people of Earth. But none of that mattered to her, she had other things to be worrying about, like how she was going to get out alive. The Cylons seemed to be getting a perverse enjoyment out of watching her struggle. Soon they had entered a more hospitable and friendly part of the ship. But it was still cold, lifeless, devoid of anything remotely near what Kelsey was used to. The walls practically glowed with pulsating light, the floor was smooth and polished, it was like a hospital in its cleanliness. But that just added to the sheer feeling of danger that kept being added to the situation as she was dragged deeper and deeper into the belly of the metal beast.

But what she was most disturbed by was that there were humans working with the Cylons, no, not working with them, commanding them. The Centurions obeyed the orders of the man and woman explicitly and without complaint. It was almost enough to make her boil herself with rage at these traitors to their own kind. But before she did that the two humans stopped at a door and opened it.

"I'll take it from here, why don't you go relax. She'll be talking in short order," the woman replied, patting the other man on the shoulder.

"Oh I know, I still remember the last Colonial you interrogated," he chuckled as he strode away.

"Strap her into the chair," the other woman ordered tersely walking in with a smile starting to creep onto her smug face.

Kelsey struggled vainly, her own body starting to tire from the constant fighting against the steel monsters holding her in vice grips that if held any tighter would break bone. But as she was dragged in she saw a single console and a chair with metal harnesses on it along with some sort of thing she guessed her head would go into. Her muffled screams did no good as the Centurions cut off the zip ties holding her arms behind her back and very quickly and roughly shoved her down onto the chromed out chair. Each Centurion expertly snapped on the cuffs, holding her to the chair securely and then strapped down her legs that were weakly thrashing about, hardly even bothering the Centurions.

"Comfy?" the blonde smirked as she ripped off the tape slowly, not bothering to notice that some strands of hair went with it.

"You frakking traitor!" Kelsey screamed defiantly after spitting out the sodden cloth.

"Now no need for language Lieutenant Adama, after all, you'd best not get on my bad side…" she grinned as she walked over to the console and then activated something on it.

And with a single twirl of a finger a single coursing pulse of pain rocked Kelsey's senses. It was like every kind of pain that could be felt was being sent through every muscle and nerve in her body. The pain was excruciating and she convulsed and let out a pained scream that she had never allowed escape before now. She thrashed against the metal cuffs as the pain subsided and she gasped for air trying to recover from the sheer mental trauma she'd just gone through.

"Now that I have your attention I will explain how this shall work. I ask you a question, you give me answer. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" she growled, twirling her finger again on the console for a split second, sending another jet of pain that made Kelsey gasp out loud as she tried to suck in a gasp of air in reflex, "right?"

Kelsey just managed to croak out a defiant, "Frak you."

"Spunky, I like that."

"Why are you helping the Cylons? Why are you betraying your own people?!" Kelsey tried speaking up.

"Well, it's hard to betray something I was never a part of. My loyalties are to my own kind."

"What?" Kelsey groaned, fighting off the still throbbing pain while trying to digest what it was she was being told.

"I'm a Cylon, a Number Three Model to be precise, there are thirteen models all together, if you count the Sevens who haven't been seen in many years but that's something you don't to worry yourself over."

"Impossible, Cylons are machines! You can't be…AH!"

The pain returned again in waves, it pulsed from the worst thing that she'd ever experienced to biblical proportions in long increments for nearly thirty seconds. She tried to hold back screams of pain but they still slipped out in the form of cries of agony to teeth gritting and hissing whenever the pain waves dulled down slightly. Her eyes clamped so tightly together she doubted they'd ever open again. But mercifully it ended as the Number Three spoke again.

"What did you see of Earth?"

"A…a day spa," Kelsey managed to valiantly squeeze out.

Another burst of pain, this one much more intense practically overwhelmed her senses and this time, no amount of discipline and mental strength could keep the screams of pain from flowing like a river.

"You were there, you are the only Colonial to ever see Earth. Tell me now."

"Frak…you…" Kelsey groaned, now her every word came out as barely a whisper. She couldn't focus on anything outside of the pain flooding in from every nerve in her body.

"Well we might resort to something like that, but rape and humiliation's not my style," the Cylon chuckled as she dialed up the pain again.

Every nerve screamed out in agony and desperation as the Cylon device tortured her like nothing ever before conceived. She couldn't hold back a few tears the pain was squeezing out as well. Blood started to drip from her nose and ears as the device intensified its effects for longer and longer periods of time. It wasn't easy to remain defiant in the face of such pain and utter misery. But she had to be strong, not just for her own people, but for Earth's people as well. If the Cylons found Earth it would all be over, and it would be her fault because she couldn't take physical pain.

"But," she cooed, "it's not out of the question."

Kelsey continued to be racked by the unbearable pain coursing through every fiber of her being. Her body flailed against the cuffs on her wrists and ankles. The only thing that prevented her from rubbing them raw was her thick flight gear.

"D'Anna," a voice suddenly called out.

The Cylon shut off the machine, and turned to an old man who was walking in, "What is it Cavil? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Oh I'm terribly sorry to ruin your fun, but we have a situation. Six ships matching the configuration of the Earth ship we detected have just entered sensor range. We need you on the bridge."

"Very well," the Cylon grumbled, "Don't get your hopes up Adama, we'll continue shortly."

"A pity," Cavil mumbled, "You might have made an excellent template for a new Model."

Cavil gently brushed a stray strand of hair out of Kelsey's face without resistance. She was just too exhausted, the torture had been effective, her energy levels were at an all-time low, her thoughts were sluggish and couldn't even make sense of what she could try mumbling to herself. Sweat was beading all over her body, and her heart was racing as the adrenaline finally subsided. All she now wanted was sleep. But she knew she couldn't not while she was still a prisoner. The two Cylons left and the door shut tight and she was alone.

USS _General George Hammond_

"All ships are in formation Colonel," Major Harrison called out.

"Launch all fighters, prep rail guns for long range anti-missile fire. Load up half our missile tubes with Mark Nines and the other half with standard warheads," Colonel Carter said, "And hail the Cylon ships."

"Yes ma'am, you're on."

"Attention Cylon ships, this is the Earth Defense Ship_ General George Hammond_, please respond over."

"No response, Cylons are launching Raiders. Sensors are detecting over a thousand."

"How many fighters do you have?" Commander Adama asked.

"One hundred and twelve."

"You won't be able to take that many Raiders head-on. I would suggest that you use your flak to thin them out some."

"We still haven't let diplomacy run its course," Carter said.

"You can't negotiate with them, for over a decade we fought a war to prevent our own extinction, our worlds burned as our people died. There's only one alternative for the Cylons."

"Nonetheless, we'll take our chances."

"Attention Cylon ships, we know that you have a Colonial hostage aboard your ship and we demand that you turn her over, respond in sixty seconds or you will be destroyed," Carter called over the radio, this time with a complete air of anger in her voice.

There was a moment of utter silence until one the Lieutenant next to Carter suddenly piped up.

"Colonel I'm detecting an attempt at forced entry into our computer network from the Cylons. Attempted entry matches what we found on the Colonial systems."

"Is there a threat?" Carter asked.

"Negative, our firewalls stopped it cold."

"Looks like they have no intention of being diplomatic," Commander Adama grumbled as he watched the clouds of Cylon Raiders glisten in the distance as the prowled around, staying close to their motherships.

"Incoming missiles, signature matches nuclear weapons, I count over sixty incoming warheads!"

Adama paled at the figures. Not even Battlestars could take out that many missiles coming their way, and then they had to take into account over a thousand Raiders that might have nuclear warheads as well. Then these Earth ships had tiny fighter compliments to pick up the slack for these small ships. Things weren't looking good at all. If only _Galactica_ were here. But as he looked out at the Earth personnel with him on the bridge he was astounded by the calm demeanor displayed by them all.

"All batteries commence firing."

Torrents of armor piercing slugs went soaring from the batteries of the Earth ships towards the swarms of missiles. Immediately the excellent targeting systems of the gun batteries of the Battlecruisers and the Battleship together began swatting away the Cylon missiles rapidly at long range. But no amount of excellent aiming could take out all of the nukes.

"How many left?" Carter asked as the missiles started to spread out and seek their individual targets.

"Four will hit us, the others will take the same. The Alaska will be hit by at least eight."

"Then she's had it," Adama said watching the missiles swirl towards the Earth flagship.

The nuclear warhead snaked their way towards the Earth ships Adama couldn't help but say a silent prayer for the crew of these ships and himself. What they were doing was valiant and noble. This fleet had risked itself for someone they had only known for a month. Or was there a different reason, one that the Earthers didn't want to share?

But the thoughts left his head as the first Earth ships were hit. The _Endeavor_ took three simultaneous hits from the Cylon nukes just as it managed to swat away the fourth. Bright brilliant light enveloped the entire ship as the nukes detonated. But soon the _Phoenix_ took two more hits, followed by the _Gemini_ with five nukes. Then the Alaska took eight hits in rapid succession from each other. Then the _Hammond_ rocked and rumbled as two nukes hit her forward of the bridge. Light nearly blinded everyone on the bridge but the screen darkened to lessen the bright light's effect on their retinas. Adama was stunned to see that the ship was not breaking apart from the hits she just took. The fragile window he thought could have killed them all was still there, in fact, there was something else out there. A bright blue bubble surrounded the_ Hammond_, as well as the other ships in the formation. The _Prometheus_ in the rear of the formation made out without taking a hit thanks to having more time to knock out the nukes that were aiming for it so the shielding of the Battlecruiser was not nearly as prevalent.

"What the…" Adama managed to gasp.

"Shields are holding at ninety seven percent."

"All main systems are still operating at one hundred percent."

"All ships accelerate to battle speed. All guns to target Cylon Raiders, launch nukes in ripple fire. Set them to go off within the Raider formation. Prepare the rescue team," Colonel Carter ordered calmly and serenely.

"What happened? What did I just see?" Adama asked.

"We don't have nearly as thick the armor plating your ships do, but we have something else entirely, a powerful energy field that can deflect anything from a solar flare to a nuke, as you just witnessed," Carter said as the other ships accelerated straight towards the Cylon ships.

Missiles jetted out of vertical launchers and flew straight towards the oncoming tide of Cylon Raiders as more and more Cylon missiles were launched against the Earth formation. Dozens of standard warheads were completely ignored as rail guns opened up with a vengeance on the Raider squadrons. Dozens of the sleek U-shaped craft were knocked out of the fight as they swarmed against the Earth ships and the nuclear missiles that had been launched against them. Their Hybrids had ordered them to protect the Basestars against the oncoming nuclear barrage but had failed to take into account the fact they too were targets. When the first wave of nukes detonated in the midst of the Raider fleet the Hybrids in the tanks convulsed and cried out in pain at the sudden and disastrous losses incurred on them. More than half the Raider fleet was vaporized by the modified Mark IX warheads which enveloped them in a heat wave and radiation field so massive the DRADIS on the Basestars shut down to protect itself from frying. The remaining Raiders were stunned, floating around as more nuclear warheads exploded in their midst further annihilating their ranks. Then, the hidden formation of Earth fighters joined the fight. Wave after wave of Space Sparrow missiles impacted the helpless Raiders and practically wiped out the twelve hundred strong attack waves, leaving barely four hundred dazed and malfunctioning Raiders to stop the tide of battle that had now turned very much against them.

The Basestars began moving to screen the ship in the rear of their own formation and began firing just about every missile they had as the Earth ships began breaking formation, swinging around their flanks to bring their deadliest weapons to bear.

"Fire beam weapons on the nearest Basestar," Carter ordered.

And before Commander Adama's eyes blue beams of light slashed across the emptiness of space and cleaved clean through the nearest Cylon Basestar, boiling and vaporizing the thin metal plating around the center of the ship. Secondary explosions ripped open the small entry hole made by the superheated plasma and erupted with enormous force as another pair of beams slashed through the ship from above as the Gemini swept in guns blazing. The Basestar's hull began to fragment as the explosions ripped it open. The entire top half of the pointed ship was blown clean off, with explosions gutting it as the dogfighting Raiders and 302's swarmed around it.

The Earth fighters were having a field day with the Cylon Raiders. Each pilot had scored several kills with only about a dozen of their own number succumbing to the diminishing force of Raiders. The 302's had a much tougher hull that was able to shrug off the small caliber cannons that the Cylon fighters used against them, it was only a missile and a hit on the canopy that brought them down. But with the Raiders it was like cutting butter with a hot knife. Their fragile wings and 'cockpit' were easily ripped apart by the F-302's cannons and missiles. The two Vipers amongst them were having an even better day. Starbuck and Apollo had far superior maneuvering and dogfight training in zero gee, while the Earth pilots were maneuvering like they were in atmosphere. Each Colonial pilot had by now become a double ace, downing more than a dozen Raiders with ease. The nuclear blasts, coupled with enormous casualties flooding their neural processors had made the Raiders sluggish and unresponsive to orders from the remaining Basestars.

Then the Alaska opened up. Four plasma beams tore across space right at one Basestar, knifing through the arms of the ship, tearing them completely off. Blooming explosions followed the beams' passage and gutted the Basestar's main hull and the ship finally succumbed to the overwhelming fire and its main reactor detonated in a colossal explosion the ripped the ship completely into pieces.

"We have a transporter lock Colonel," Major Harrison piped up.

"Send the team," Colonel Carter ordered.

"Yes ma'am."

Adama watched as the three other Earth Battlecruisers swarmed the third Basestar and virtually vaporized the entire ship with a total of a dozen beams hitting the ship all at once. What he'd just seen would have made the best science fiction director drool with envy. But more importantly what he'd just seen would have taken an equal sized group of Battlestars nearly an hour, and hundreds of casualties if not the loss of one or two Battlestars. Yet these Earthers had easily swept away the Cylons with a flick of the wrist and the push of a button. The proof was floating lifeless before him, the remnants of a Cylon fleet and a formation of Earth ships surrounding a damaged Basestar that had his daughter aboard. By now the F-302's had finished off the Cylon's once mighty fighter compliments and were roving the hull of the Basestar, smashing its missile batteries and engines to prevent it from jumping away.

"Colonel," Major Harrison called out, "They're in."

**And another chapter done, with the first battle scene of the story. I'm very happy with it, hope you guys are too. I have another poll for you all to take part it. Well I've noticed that the F-302, and the soon-to-be F-302B doesn't have a name, like the other fighters do. So I have several options I'd like a vote on: **

**F-302B Banshee**

**F-302B Hawk**

**F-302B Reaper**

**So please vote on it, I'll be letting you know what the name is by the next chapter.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Teal'c against Centurions, fight of the century? Of course it is…**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here's another chapter folks. I'm really driven hard to update this story by you guys, I'm really overwhelmed by the sheer number of views this story gets. Per update over two thousand views? man you guys are awesome. Enjoy. **

**Chapter 8**

Location: Cylon Basestar

Time: 2345 Hours

Date June 21, 2014

"Why can't we just beam her out again?" Vala whispered as the Earth rescue team made up of ten Marines and SG-1 crept through the ruined flickering interior of the Cylon Basestar.

"Because there are weird lifesigns on board that make it impossble, and the ship itself is giving off some odd life sign reading," Jackson replied as he followed Mitchell.

"The ship's alive?" one of the Marines asked bluntly.

"In a matter of speaking," Daniel said back.

The ship seemed to be in chaos, alarms were blaring all over the halls in strange high pitched squeals that were deafening to the ear. Red lights pulsed along the walls that were basically light fixtures themselves. A few places had shattered glass pieces from vibrations or something falling into them. A few wires hung from the ceiling in isolated places where damage seemed to be quite severe. The floors were as smooth as marble and all exactly the same shade of black. Occasionally the entire deck would rumble as an explosion rocked the ship in some weapons emplacement that was targeted by pin point rail gun and missile fire. There were a few isolated life signs but they would just fade in and out as if they were a part of the massive life sign that seemed to be the Basestar itself. Or of the same type of life force.

SG-1 and the squad of marines were wearing the heaviest Kevlar jackets that the Hammond had on board to protect themselves. The marines had wisely opted to replace their unique red berets that signified them as shipboard security troops for black helmets with attached night vision goggles that could swing down if the need arose. They were armed with M-16's and M-4's with their normal digital camouflage under their upgraded flak jackets that were known to stop and AK-47 at close range. They were also equipped with a beacon that sent out signals that could be pinpointed exactly in the event they needed to be beamed out quickly like if they were wounded or jettisoned out into space. But everyone in the team also had a rebreather the size of a camel back water pack that would provide air in the event they were in a no atmosphere zone.

The team suddenly halted at a corner as Colonel Mitchell heard an inhumane noise coming from around the corner. He leaned out to take a quick peak as the marines settled in guarding the rear of the group for anyone or anything coming from behind them. What Mitchell saw was like something from a movie. There were five seven foot tall armored robots on guard in that hall. Three were moving away from them down the hall. Two were standing guard at a door, the first they'd seen. The robots were armored up in intimidating chromed out plates that guarded and covered every bit of circuitry that they ran on. A slit served as an eye with a red light waving back and forth in a hypnotizing movement as the Centurion scanned back and forth for threats or objects of interest.

"Are those Cylons?" Vala asked, clearly intimidated.

"Looks like," Mitchell said, shouldering his P90 and taking aim.

The team wasn't armed with their normal ammunition for this mission, instead they were armed with a powerful new bullet type that was a made of a mixture of trinium and naquada. They were able to make the things by the ton thanks to their matter synthesizers, and tests had shown they were very capable rounds. However, Teal'c had opted to take his staff weapon instead of the guns, because he'd said that something like the Cylons were very vulnerable to the superheated plasma of a staff weapon.

"Open fire."

With that the Centurions whirled around and transformed their hands to gun barrels and started firing just as the rescue team opened up. But the Centurions were out in the open and when the bullets started flying they were easy targets. The first Centurion hit was riddled with the deadly AP rounds and staggered on its feet until a well-placed shot from Teal'c's weapon smashed it right in the head, melting it and sending melted fragments into his buddies. The next Centurion began firing immediately with both hands and sent bullets into the corner where the group was taking cover. The marines all of a sudden began firing away at something behind the team and Mitchell was shocked to see that at least eight Centurions had run up behind them.

"Open up on 'em!"

"I'm hit!"

The last marine in line took a burst of fire into his chest that sent him sprawling onto the ground writhing in pain. The entire squad of Marines let loose and started chalking up the kills. The Centurions' first row was wiped out as their armored bodies were turned to swiss cheese by the massive flood of trinium and naquada bullets. One exploded, sending fragments into the wall where it shattered the glass and sparked a fire in the fragile wiring of the panels protected by it. The wounded marine was dragged screaming into the protection of the team as the Centurions advanced unflinchingly into their deaths.

"Teal'c help 'em out!"

Teal'c quickly nodded and ran to assist the marines and fired away. Two plasma burst slammed into and through a single Centurion as more of the metal soldiers rounded the corner and the battle heated up. The chattering of the M-16's held by the marines barked out at the wave of Centurions advancing on them while SG-1 dueled with the remaining four Centurions down the other hall. Another man went down as Teal'c ran up to take his place, dragging the wounded marine behind cover. After checking to be sure that he'd live, Teal'c rose up and fired again, smashing two more Centurions as three others went down as one of the marines fired his under slung grenade launcher and smashed the several at once. Mitchell managed to bring down another Centurion and ran forward with Daniel covering him. The combined fire from both he and Jackson took out another Centurion and forced the remaining one to duck behind the door.

Teal'c ran forward trying to close the distance as the Centurions continued to pour fire against them and wounded two more of the Marines. Thankfully their advanced Kevlar and plasma resistant flak jackets were able to hold back most of the impact from the Centurions' wrist mounted weaponry. But some fragments made it through and missed the armored portions of their body like the legs and the arms. There were five left, and Teal'c was going to take on all of them. Firing his staff again he blew up two of them just as one of the robot soldiers swung at him with a hand of solid steel sharp enough to carve up an elephant. He ducked quickly, swinging his staff with a powerful blow that swept the legs of the Centurion out from under it and then he fired a single blast that blew apart its head. He then swung the staff around to fire at the other two Centurions and blew one of the legs off one of them and brought the back of the staff right into the red glowing eye, cracking it open and neutralizing that one as well. As he did that the last one took aim at the back of Teal'c but without missing a beat he fired at the Centurion with his back turned and sliced it clean in half.

"Wow," the Marine's Captain breathed in admiration.

"Indeed," Teal'c said as he jogged past them to assist the rest of the team as the smoke and vaporized metal floated and clung to the ceiling along as the dozen mangled Centurions lay smoldering.

"Mitchell," Teal'c called out, but to his relief SG-1 had finished off the last of the Centurion guards.

"We're alright Teal'c, the marines?" Mitchell asked as he leaned down to poke one of the fallen Centurions with his P90.

"Four of them are injured," Teal'c replied, "Captain Spears is asking to have them beamed out."

"Alright, Captain, beam out your wounded, we gotta move," Mitchell called out on the radio.

"Copy that sir."

As the marine officer called over to the Hammond that they needed to be beamed out SG-1 surveyed the situation.

"These guys here were guarding something, notice how they were standing guard with these three on patrol?" Mitchell pointed out.

"And then their pals came arunnin' once we started mixing it up."

"Which means that there's something worth guarding in that room," Vala said, walking over to the large door where Teal'c was looking at a life signs detector.

"Over here," Teal'c pointed, "There is a life sign in the room."

"Cover the hall," Mitchell ordered the six remaining marines, "Ready?"

With nods from the other members of the team Mitchell pressed the door's activation button and with a smooth hiss the door slid open and they all rushed in, weapons aimed and ready to fire at any Centurions that were in the room. But thankfully, none were present. Instead something better was lying cuffed on a metal chair by her wrists and ankles.

It was Kelsey, she was unconscious from sheer physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion. Her head was leaning over to the side. Her nose had a thin line of blood trailing from it, and her chest rose and fell from shallow breaths. Jackson ran over to her and started pulling off the shackles holding her to the chair as Mitchell keyed the radio to report in.

"Colonel Carter, this is Mitchell, we have secured the objective, repeat, we've secured the objective," he said as Daniel attempted to wake her up.

"Copy that Mitchell, have you found any other humans?" Carter asked.

"Negative. We've seen them on our scanners, but they've always slipped away."

"Are you ready to beam out?"

"Affirmative, beam us out," Mitchell said as two of the marines held Kelsey between them.

Less than thirty seconds later they were all enveloped in a flash of light and then all of them reappeared within the medical bay of the George Hammond. The four marines were already in cots with medical personnel attending to them. The ship was still at battle-stations with everyone having compact rebreathing equipment in case of a loss of atmosphere and everyone but medical personnel having an M9 holstered at their sides in case the ship were boarded. But the odds of that happening were remote to none. And with their away team successful in securing their objective they were now in a state of confident relief.

"Sam, this is Mitchell, we're aboard with the objective."

"Very well," Carter responded.

On the bridge Colonel Carter was standing near the window where Commander Adama was stading looking out at the very one sided battlefield strewn with the rubble of Basestars, the bodies of Raiders, and the rare piece of wreckage from an F-302 with the bodies of their pilots removed of course. But hidden in the rubble were real human bodies, exactly seven models. And their presence hadn't gone unnoticed. The Earth ships had already begun to sweep through the wreckage field, picking up the bodies of the humanoid Cylons and were transferring them to the Alaska, where a special lab on board was equipped to deal with unknown objects. Right now it was absolutely filled to the brim with dozens of frozen dead bodies of the Cylon dead.

"Should we finish off the Cylon ship ma'am?" one of the officers on the bridge asked from his station.

"No, hold your fire, we need to capture it to gain any intel on what their other capabilities are."

"Good luck with that," Adama said, pointing out at the Basestar several of the arm section twisted against each other and detonated.

The ship ripped itself apart as a piece of wreckage slammed into it and forced its own inertia and size to tear apart the already weakened structure. The main hull of the ship began to balloon with internal explosions and leaked atmosphere profusely. The in a nuclear fueled detonation the ship lit up and vaporized, melting the entirety of the center of the ship and sent other pieces flying.

"Self-destruct?" Carter asked Adama.

"More than likely, their Basestars were rarely disabled and their computer systems had a contingency plan that would detonate a nuke hidden under their reactors if they felt that they were compromised."

Then Colonel Carter put a hand to her ear and smiled.

"Commander," Carter said as Adama surveyed the destruction with a critical eye.

"Yes Colonel?" he said, snapping out of the military engrained trance he was in.

"My team has returned with your daughter, they're in the med bay now," she said, "I can have your pilots escorted there once they land."

"I'd be most grateful Colonel Carter. Lead on."

Adama was unsure whether to still be absolutely stunned at how quickly and brutally the Earthers had wiped out the Cylon fleet or to be mesmerized by the way they did it. But he chose none of those options, he now had to go see his daughter in the med bay. He was mostly concerned for her well-being, this was only natural as he was a father and she was his daughter. But he was most definitely overjoyed she was alright. For now, that was all that mattered.

She led him off of the bridge and through the ship quickly to the med bay as the ship speakers began calling out for the crew to secure from battle-stations. On the way there Apollo and Starbuck joined them with smiles on their faces and immediately began bragging about how many Raiders they'd killed. Starbuck was adamant she'd taken down at least sixteen, while Apollo said they were both even at fifteen because Starbuck had shot down a Raider he'd sent tumbling into her crosshairs. Of course she'd shot it, making the whole craft shatter and claimed the kill as her own. But Adama just told them to look at the gun cameras and let protocol decide. By the time he'd settled the argument they had arrived in an isolated room where Kelsey was recuperating.

"Well isn't this becoming a habit?" Starbuck called out as she strolled in, "Do you have to be the damsel in distress Lightbulb? You have everything but the princess look down pat. All you need now is a little tiara and a pink fluffy dress."

"They held a gun to my head! What was I supposed to do?" Kelsey stammered as she sat up in the bed, careful not to yank out the wires on her arm.

"It's alright, sometimes hoping for a rescue is all you can do," Lee said, consoling his sister, who just grunted at not being able to save herself.

"I think I'll leave you all alone," Carter whispered, wisely leaving the room. But before she did she looked up at the camera in the corner of the room to be sure it functioning and recording the conversations the Colonials were having, just in case.

"You alright Kelsey?" Bill Adama himself asked as he sat next to her.

"I'm fine sir," she said back, smiling softly, "Thanks to you guys coming to get me. Speaking of which how did you get me out? I was deep inside a Basestar!"

"These Earth ships are far tougher deadlier than they look," Starbuck piped up, "They had a fleet on their way towards the Colonies with their civilian delegation aboard for negotiations when they saw that frakker Pyre and your Raptor jump nearby."

"So they rescued you, and asked for an expert on Cylon tactics and tech to come along."

"You?" Kelsey asked, remembering her father was basically a war hero.

"So it seems, but I'm not sure how much difference it would have made, the Cylons were wiped out in moments. Four entire Basestars and nearly two thousand Raiders," Adama chuckled.

"What?! How'd they…"

"Easy there kid, we'll fill you in. Just relax."

Caprica, Caprica City

"Mr. President," came the voice on the intercom of Richard Adar's desk.

"What is it?" the President of the Colonies asked.

"I have Admiral Nagala here to see you, he says it's urgent."

"Alright, send him in," Adar stood up and walked over as the door opened to reveal not only the highest ranking officer in the entire Colonial Fleet, but there were several high ranking officers behind him as well carrying several suit cases with classified materials sealed up inside them, "Admiral, I wasn't expecting you here."

Richard Adar was a decently sized man in his late fifties. He had already served on term as President and the stress of that job was apparent on his features. His normally brown hair was beginning to gray slightly at the sideburns and his eyes had slight bags under them from a lack of sleep over the years. But he still retained his same confident posture that he had when he was first elected.

"I'm sorry for barging in like this Mr. President but we have a situation."

"What type of situation?" Adar asked, motioning for the Admiral and his subordinates to sit.

"Sir, several hours ago we received a Code E Five Alert from the Battlestar Galactica…"

"You're going to have to enlighten me Admiral, what's a Code E Five? I have to memorize many things, so I probably skipped that over."

"Mr. President, a Code E Five is the Fleet's designation for a first contact scenario, with Earth."

"Earth?!" Adar practically shouted, leaning forward with his arms on his knees, his whole demeanor now demanding more information, "That old war horse made contact with Earth?"

"It seems that way sir. It was only recently confirmed by both Admirals Cain and Powers. As per protocol Commander Adama, the Commanding Officer aboard the Galactica contacted command and we scrambled every ship we had in range. These ships rendezvoused on the Galactica and set up a perimeter and quarantine of the local space. Admiral Powers took command aboard the Zeus, an Olympus class Warstar, with eight Battlestars, eleven cruisers, and twenty destroyers in formation."

"I don't need to know the little details Admiral, Earth, did Adama make contact with people from Earth?!" Adar demanded, making every one of the officers in the room flinch at the angered voice of their Commander in Chief.

"At this point sir we believe so," Admiral Nagala confirmed, "These people from Earth had claimed that one our pilots had jumped into the atmosphere of one of their planets, a place they call Alpha Site. So far they haven't said anything more about this Alpha Site, but the pilot survived and made contact with what we believe to be an Earth military colony."

"And these Earth folks decided to bring her back and make contact themselves?" Adar asked.

"That's what they said sir," Nagala replied, "The pilot is Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, daughter of Commander Adama, CO of the Galactica. She disappeared a month ago on a mission to Caprica but when she jumped her Raptor never arrived. Without the wreckage of the Raptor we can't make an exact judgment of what happened but a major malfunction must have sent her jump drive into overdrive and she jumped way beyond the red line."

"And right into Earth's lap. Sounds almost too good to be true," Adar chuckled, getting no visible reaction from the Admiral sitting in front of him.

"Yes sir it does, but we followed our protocol and sent a civilian delegation to the Galactica after bringing Lieutenant Adama in for debriefing. They made proper contact and, well you can read the reports yourself, but in the reports they stated that these people claiming to be an exploratory team from Earth are the real McCoy."

"And the debriefing of this Lieutenant?"

"Mr. President, this is where things get sketchy, as we received these reports less than an hour ago so nothing has been confirmed yet. Admiral Powers sent Admiral Cain out to find the Earthers' ship that they had launched from, and found it within the gas giant Ragnar."

"Those Earthers found the Anchorage?" Adar exclaimed.

"No sir, they were in the atmosphere itself, we don't know how, but their ships apparently have a much tougher hull than our do against that kind of damaging atmospheric conditions. But from what observations from the fleet have suggested, their ship is roughly two hundred and fifty meters long, and has hangers for fighters and scout craft such as the one the Galactica encountered."

"So a tiny scout ship then, they apparently thought it wise not to send a full blooded warship into our space? Right?"

"Our reports don't seem to think so, the ship has repeatedly called itself the Earth Defense Ship General George Hammond. She's a warship alright sir."

"Okay then a small warship, so what happened then?"

"Well sir, from here reports are varied and unverified, but from what we've been able to gather someone abducted Lieutenant Adama right off of the Zeus, tearing open her number three flight pod in the process and killing dozens of crewmen."

"WHAT?!" the President roared, "Are you telling me that someone waltzed onto the most powerful ship in the entire frakking fleet and took her?!"

"Mr. President, as I said, reports have not been confirmed but eye witnesses report that the senior Intelligence officer aboard the Zeus was seen escorting her to the pod. A fire fight broke out as they attempted to leave but the faces are hard to make out and the eye witnesses to that fire fight were all killed when the Raptor jumped and the pod was exposed to space."

"So they're dead? And no leads?"

"We have a few that we're following up on. Fleet Intelligence is cracking down on every possible terrorist, rebel, and pirate cell trying to get any leads that we can gather. But apparently the Earthers had their own idea of what happened and acted."

"They…acted?" Adar asked, not really believing the totally wild tale of what he was hearing.

"Admiral Cain assumed command of the fleet, as per protocol, and asked the Earth ship to return to the formation."

"Cain? She's in command? Gods help us," Adar groaned, knowing the fiery temperament of the highest ranking woman in the Colonial Fleet.

"The Earth vessel refused, claiming a Battlegroup from Earth had been dispatched to escort their own civilian delegation but had diverted to track the Raptor that the abductees used to make their escape."

"Wait, an Earth Battlegroup? Why did they do that?" Adar asked.

Nagala simply shrugged his shoulders, "My people are interpreting it to mean that they are intimidated by our forces and they wanted to appear stronger than what their small vessel showed us."

"Or, they were wanting a fight," Adar grumbled.

"I would highly doubt that Mr. President. But the Earth Commanding Officer said that their long range scanners had picked up the Raptor inside Cylon Space and went after it in an attempt at a rescue mission. They claimed their reasoning was that the Lieutenant in question had become a good friend to them," Nagala said.

"Admiral, are you saying that Earth decided, out of the blue, to take an entire one of their fleets into Cylon territory, without knowing what they were in for? How did Cain let them go through with it?!"

"Mr. President, Admiral Cain, in fact no Colonial has authority over any Earth vessel or personnel. If they want to do something then we have no say in the matter. They may be the Thirteenth but I think we need to remember that Earth has been alone for a long time, they probably won't be too wild about taking orders from us."

Adar nodded, knowing that he was right, Earth was a unique case among the Colonies. There were documentaries on its existence, possible level of development, and what possible scenarios were for the unification of Earth with the other twelve Colonies. There were speculations that with Earth being a loner they would have more than likely become fiercely independent being on their own and thriving for many thousands of years. But most experts agreed that Earth wouldn't be on the same level of advancement as the rest of the Colonies due to its lack of resources and people that the rest of the Colonies enjoyed. Another prevailing theory, although less well thought of, is that Earth would expand rapidly, having met and gone to war with an alien race or races would either advance or die. But, unfortunately for the scientist who came up with that theory his career was ended because of that statement. Aliens were voodoo in the Colonies and to the Colonials. Most, if not all the major scientists and the government of the Colonies as a whole held the firm belief that there was no such thing as aliens. But perhaps the existence of Earth could shed some light on if this was true.

"So have they returned yet? Were they successful?" Adar asked, desperate to know whether or not the Thirteenth had just doomed itself to the mercy of the Cylons or if they had triumphed.

"So far Mr. President, we haven't seen them return."

"May the Gods help them," Adar groaned.

"So say we all," some of the officers mumbled under their breaths.

"Mr. President, there is one other thing that the Fleet wishes to bring to your attention," Nagala started, getting a nod from Adar to proceed, "Sir, with the discovery of the Thirteenth Colony it can now be decided that Kobol exists, and that it is out there, waiting for us to find it. With Kobol, and the secrets it holds we can do many things. First, we can find the route to Earth itself, and establish a shipping lane for ease of transport. Second, we can affirm the existence of the Lords of Kobol, and silence monotheist sects that have been causing so much unrest lately. And third, we can find advanced technology that can be used to supplement the Fleet, and introduce into the wider economy."

Another officer stepped forward, "Mr. President, for some time now an organization has been lobbying in the Quorum to dispatch an expedition to find Kobol and unlock its secrets, namely the location of Earth. However, the fleet barred any attempts to send an expedition by withholding military escort through unknown space. But now that Earth is out there, we can now affirm that Kobol too exists and we can pull together an expeditionary fleet and find the home of our ancestors."

"And you need my approval," President Adar asked, stunned that so much was happening so fast.

"Officially we do, but it would be much easier to gain the funding and resources that such an undertaking needs with your approval."

"Very well, you have my support Admiral," he said, then turned back to the subject of contact with Earth, "Does the Quorum know that we've made contact with the people of Earth?"

"No sir, and they won't until you have declassified the events of what has happened."

"Well most of them, the fate of the Zeus cannot be discovered. It would cripple moral and cause that much more unrest throughout the Colonies. We can't give terrorists any more reason to think they have a hope of beating the fleet."

Adar was right, the fact that the mighty new Warstar had been damaged by a handful of collaborators and then got away with a high priority individual was a slight to the fleet that could not be ignored. Then add to the fact that it had taken Earth's own military forces to get involved to rescue the individual in question was a blow to not only the Fleet but to Colonial honor. So those events would be kept under tight wraps. Instead a cover story about a malfunctioning Raptor would have to suffice. It would definitely make the Raptor look like a dangerous death trap but at worst the Fleet would get more funding for a new type of all-purpose utility craft to replace the updated war horse.

But the fact Earth had done something like dashing into Cylon territory to rescue a Colonial when something like that should have been done with the full might that the Colonial Fleet could bring to bear was something that couldn't be found out by the general public. President Richard Adar wouldn't let the heroics of one independent colony sully the reputation of the other twelve.

Earth, The Pentagon

Jack O'Neill was normally a very busy man, being head of Homeworld Defense implied a busy schedule. Not only did he have to deal with the military operations of the fleet, the Stargate, and the security of said operations but he also had to deal with the political and civilian part of the program. Needless to say, that was the most annoying part of the entire job.

But for the moment he was doing something that he actually liked doing, looking at cool projects and technology reports, although most confused him. But he liked the pictures mostly, they had a great team of artists that drew up drawings and such, predicting what stuff was going to look like. It was the highlight of his day whenever the geeks at Area 51, Stargate Command, or Colonel Carter herself came up with new stuff for him to sign off on.

The report before him was on the planned offworld base dubbed Project Terra Nova. According to what he was reading the base would be the largest ever conceived by Earth. It was to be situated on a mountainous island the size of Manhattan in the equatorial region of a planet that was a lot like Earth itself. The island itself was made of a ring of tall mountains covered in a thick rainforest, perfect for concealment. In the Northern region of the island were the rocky and mountainous highlands that were well scouted by a pair of Battlecruisers. The middle of the island was a grassy plain with a pair of good sized freshwater lakes branching off into a large swamp that extended around the lakes and connected them. These lakes and swamps all fed into a large river that snaked its way from there to a river delta that emptied out into an amazing natural harbor ringed and protected by sandy palm tree covered barrier islands. On the western and eastern parts of the island were hilly jungles that were protected by low mountains that protected the island interior from storms that plagued the planet in what appeared to be a seasonal series of typhoons and hurricanes. But the all-around were white sandy beaches with great views of distant islands ranging in size from a few square feet to a few the size of Cheyenne Mountain. The plant life was reported to be a potential gold mine of medical potential and the climate was well conducive to botanical research. The animal life was fairly welcoming, with only one potentially dangerous land going predator in the region discovered thus far. The ocean beyond however was even more full of life, sensor readings from the Battlecruisers detected whale sized life forms and a close look revealed that the water shimmered with fish. But something else drove the scientists up the wall. The forest glowed at night from natural bio luminescence. It was like something out of the movie Avatar. The scientists, especially the small number of botanists were drooling over the potential discoveries that could be made on that planet.

But it wasn't the plants that had O'Neill really interested in the planet. It was the mountains themselves. It was perfect for a base of operations to be established within the protective granite of the rock fortresses. Another plan that was also perfect for this particular location was the new shipyard design. It called for a pair of mountains to be slightly dug out and the nestling a framework between them where equipment, storage, and manufacturing equipment could be built in. The design was brilliant considering what Earth had been doing before to build ships. They'd had to dig out entire shipyards underground that had to then be concealed and filled in with the necessary equipment needed to build ships. And then if a new type of ship came along they had to build brand new ones to accommodate the increased or decreased size of the individual classes. But this shipyard design had the amazing ability to build different types of ships with the same shipyard. Plans were already drawn up to commence building of over a twenty of these shipyards, called the Mark One Construction Platform. However a facility that would end up being this strategically important would need defensive measures, a lot of them. So preemptive estimates stated that two hundred automated rail guns, one hundred and fifty SAM missile batteries, and twenty land mounted beam weapons would be set up to defend the island from air and space attack. Also a shield generator powered by their new neutrino ion reactors would be able to encompass the island and the area around it stretching for several kilometers.

Plans also indicated a series of truly massive underground storage sites that were estimated to hold over ten thousand of the new and improved F-302B Banshee Space Superiority Fighters. After careful consideration the F-302 was designated as the Banshee due to the high pitched noise its engine made in atmosphere and it was linked to the legend of the Banshee that whenever it was heard screaming it meant someone was going to die, and to O'Neill it seemed fitting. There would also be facilities to accommodate more than thirty thousand people, should and ally or Earth itself be compromised and need to be evacuated. An air strip would have a fighter compliment of over a hundred of the new Banshees and thirty of the new fully weaponized version of the U-306 Scout Ship, the A-309 Comanche Gunship. Along with the fully functional Stargate Operations room the area was going to be an awesome addition to Earth's defenses.

Also present were several large factories fully dedicated to production of war material such as new fighters like the Banshee, gunships like the Comanche, and all the rail guns, missiles, and energy weapons that Earth needed for its growing space forces. Among the facilities were research labs for working on projects deemed too dangerous to be done on Earth. A few other labs for more civilian aimed material was to be done in outdoor labs built around the island connected via a system of roads, both underground and above ground. There were facilities to manufacture and test out the newest ground vehicles for Earth's space going forces. The M401A1 Main Battle Tank, affectionately named the Thor, and the M402A1 Armored fighting Vehicle, nicknamed the Honey Badger after its preliminary examination stated that it could take what it wanted, where it wanted, and not give a fuck about what it killed on the way there.

So with all this planned military and scientific expansion off world of course the IOA wanted a piece of the action. So a special place would be built to accommodate an IOA oversight board above ground as well as a place for negotiations to be held in a place that wasn't Earth but still in a controlled environment. Of course this facility would have all the pleasures of home, and all the advancements that could be folded into the building of the facility such as holographic technology, transporters, and a shield to protect the political dweebs.

So of course O'Neill signed off on it.

As he placed the classified document off to the side he heard the door open loudly and heard his secretary angrily ordering the man who had just come barging in through his door to stop. But it was too late. The man standing before O'Neill was none other than Senator Henry Jackson of the IOA. In fact for all intents and purposes he was the IOA. He was the most powerful member of the civilian oversight administration and liked to think he was in charge of Homeworld Defense, much to the annoyance of Jack O'Neill.

"General what in the hell is wrong with you?!" the very fat man bellowed out loud as O'Neill didn't even bother to stand up. He waved his secretary, an Air Force Major to return to her work so he could handle the irate Senator himself.

O'Neill knew exactly what had gotten under the Senator's skin to make him barge into the most secured wing of the Pentagon. He'd given Carter permission to go on a rescue operation to save Kelsey Adama after she had been abducted, but he'd done it without even telling the IOA. And when the IOA was kept out of the loop, this fat bastard came storming into his office. He had reason to be angry, granted, but what he was about to do would take a flying leap across the fine line the IOA walked upon with him.

"Sir, I tried to stop him, but he insisted…"

"Hello Henry, long time no see," Jack grinned, offering him a seat, "Why don't you sit down?"

"I just got a report that the entire Alaska Battlegroup was sent on a rescue mission by Colonel Carter! Not only that but she brought Colonials on board without express permission! Explain yourself!" the thick Deep South accent of the man yelled, really testing the soundproofing of the office.

"Well, first off Senator, lower your voice, my head hurts. Secondly Carter had my permission to go on that op and to take a select Colonial officer with her as an adviser on the potential enemy forces that she encountered and did encounter. Thirdly, that op was necessary to prevent a hostile force from gaining knowledge of Earth from Kelsey Adama, the young Colonial we returned to her people, who was kidnapped for what she knew. And I gave Colonel Carter my permission to go ahead and follow use her own initiative and judgment, I've trusted her with my life. I know for a fact I can trust her to make the right call."

"Your permission?! I have the final say General, as head of the IOA what comes out of my mouth is gospel do you hear me boy?!"

O'Neill's smile disappeared at the declaration of what this arrogant Senator had just said. It was no secret that among the military civilian oversight was the bane of shadow operations. They got in the way, threatened the security and safety of the personnel involved, and more often than not cost the military time and time costs lives and makes missions fail. The Stargate Program and its sister operation, Homeworld Defense, was no exception. Senator Jackson had been a thorn in the side of military on House and Senate Committees, and when he became a leading delegate on the IOA he became the bane of every soldier's existence. Whenever a janitor wanted to flick a light switch at Cheyenne mountain Senator Jackson was right there wanting to have a report filed on it so he could have a say in how, when, where, and why it happened. He'd always tried to push for direct Command of Stargate Command and the Fleet itself, but had never really got anywhere. Never, _ever_, ad he insinuated he had direct control, until now. The IOA, legally, had no direct control over military operations, but it was part of their job to blow the whistle whenever they felt that something was out of place. If it weren't for that dictatorships would form. But for them to assume control was simply not viable or really smart. Something like the fleet and the SGC had to be in military control for things to get done whenever the shit hit the fan. A military was perfectly adept at action and reaction due to the clear and concise chain of command, but with the IOA things were more political, decisions took far longer than they needed to be most of the time. It was politics. And politics didn't work when it came to defending Earth. That's why the Air Force was there.

"Senator, I'm going to put this to you very plainly and very bluntly. I answer to four people, and four people only. The Secretary of the United States Air Force, the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, the Secretary of Defense, and the President of the United States. You, are not on that list, Senator. Now you'd best remember that before I…"

All of a sudden O'Neill was interrupted by the phone on his desk ringing.

"Excuse me," O'Neill growled, picking up the phone, "General O'Neill...Alright, I'll be right there."

He hung up the phone and grabbed his sky blue dress jacket and prepared to leave, but the still angered Henry Jackson stepped in his way.

"We are not done General O'Neill, I have here a summons for you and Colonel Carter to appear at an IOA hearing on July the tenth. You two will be there, or your careers are finished."

"Senator, you can either walk out of my office, or…"

"Or what…" Senator Jackson growled, literally bowing his chest towards O'Neill ready to legitimately fight.

"Or I can have you collected."

**Oh no he didn't! Haha, I hate politicians don't you? Thanks for reading folks, please review and let me know what you think.**

**Post note, any Red vs Blue fans out there? Red vs Blue Season 11 starts in one week from now. I'm pretty excited for that, and I was wondering if any RVB fans out there would be interested in reading my RVB stories, Love Red vs Blue Style and Love Red vs Blue Style II.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Colonies throw the party of the century. And the IOA throws a hissy fit.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, this author has turned 20 years old! And this story has turned two months old with nearly thirty thousand views! Wow, I have to say that I am really amazed that I have gotten this far. Hopefully though, it'll finish out and you guys will love it. Enjoy.**

**Chapter 9**

Location: Caprica, Colonial Quorum Chambers

Date: July 10, 2014

Time: 0800 Lima 

"Ladies of and gentlemen of the Quorum, honored delegates of the Twelve Colonies of Man, Colonials all, thank you for hearing me this day…"

Low applause echoed throughout the massive and impressive Quorum's Chamber in the middle of Caprica City as President Adar started his well-practiced, and expertly written speech to the governing body of the Colonies along with the numerous news channels that were well represented in the seating areas on the balcony. This message had been roughly a week in the making. Ever since the situation with Earth being contacted had grown far more complex and critical details had been learned the situation was deemed safe enough for the general population to know. However the events that led to Kelsey Adama's rescue would be kept under tight secrecy, including the fact that, according to their observers, Earth was far more advanced than they seemed to let on.

The Admiralty pushed hard for a good working relationship with Earth so that a trade might potentially be arranged for such some of their technology. But the Admiralty was even more stunned by the revelation that a virus had been detected in their Control Systems by Earth's sensors. At first the man behind the Defense Mainframe, Doctor Gaius Baltar, was adamant that the Network was impervious to a virus like the one the Earthers were suggesting. But a test on a derelict Destroyer about to be decommissioned showed that the whole ship went dead and unresponsive. So the Network was scrapped and dismantled, and the funding and personnel moved elsewhere.

Battlestar Galactica had halted its decommissioning in favor of a massive ramp up of readiness after the commanding officer of the Earth fleet, Colonel Carter, had informed them they'd engaged and destroyed four Cylon Basestars, in Cylon Space. Of course the civilian delegation from the Colonies had been horrified, thinking that the Cylons would seek vengeance for this battle but when Earth's delegation revealed that it was the Cylons who attempted to hack into their vessels' systems and when that proved unsuccessful they launched over sixty nuclear weapons against the Earth forces. So the Colonial Fleet went on full alert, scrambling their Defense Network, and calling up their reserve formations and cancelling leave for all active personnel and had every ship out and ready for an attack that never came.

It was still a tense situation with the Cylons who hadn't made as much as a peep from their section of space. They were more than likely recovering and evaluating the situation with a critical eye before proceeding to whatever course of action they felt needed to be taken. But for now, the threat was able to be overlooked in favor of the more pressing issue of informing the populating that Earth and its people had returned.

"I come before you this day not to speak of bad times or tragedies befalling our people. No, this day I come before you bearing great news."

The reporters in the lofts began jotting down notes on their little note pads as the President paused for dramatic effect.

"Several thousand years ago the Colonies lived together in paradise. This place was called Kobol, and back then it wasn't just twelve tribes. There was a thirteenth," the whole of the crowd began mumbling amongst themselves, wondering what exactly Adar was aiming at, "But this peace did not last, for a great tragedy occurred, and the people of the thirteen tribes left for the stars. We, the twelve tribes of Aerilon, Aerlion, Canceron, Caprica, Gemenon, Leonis, Libran, Picon, Sagittaron, Scorpia, Tauron, and Virgon, arrived here together, while the thirteenth left on its own path and established themselves on a planet called Earth. For thousands years more we thought Earth as a myth, a legend of a long lost tribe. But now, this lost tribe, has found their way, and returned to their brothers. Today, I have the pleasure to tell you all that Earth has returned."

The audience at first didn't even really know what to make of it. Most sat there scrutinizing Adar with a critical eye while others pondered the possibility. But these weren't fools in the governing body. If something like the return of Earth was to be true they would need tangible proof.

So the Gemenese member of the Quorum stood up, breaking the silence with a single question that everyone was thinking, "Mr. President, I would like to believe this great news of yours, but you as well as we know that many people have claimed to be from or claimed to have been to Earth. I would politely ask for proof of this news."

"Of course Mister Brown. I have here, an audio recording taken of the event that led to our first contact with our Earth cousins."

Everyone in the chamber leaned forward, afraid to miss anything that would come out of the speakers set up on the ceiling of the chamber that would normally play music before and after meetings as well as the Colonial anthem during the meetings and would broadcast the voice of someone speaking. Now however the speakers were crackling with slight static from the audio recordings from the Battlestar Galactica. Audio booms from the reporters were jostling for position, trying to get a better take on the recording as every one of the operators of said equipment frantically made sure that their equipment was working.

Then the recording started, "Attention Colonial Battlestar Galactica, this is Scout Zero-One attached to the Earth Defense Ship George Hammond, do you copy?"

The crowd gasped, as there was a pause before the Galactica replied. The entire room was silent as they digested the recording. It was very possible that it was fabricated, however it was very unlikely that anyone could fool the Admiralty with a fake recording from one of their own Battlestars which was under the command of the most seasoned officer in the fleet. And then as the recording ended President Adar pushed a button on the podium he was standing behind to bring down a large screen and the finest type of projector money could buy. The crowd was now quite agitated and some genuine smiles began to creep across the faces of the members of both the Quorum and the Delegates. The crowds in the observation lofts were brimming with excitement as President Adar waved them down, trying to make them bring the noise level down.

"My friends, please there is more. If that recording did not convince you that this is the truth then this will. After the Battlestar Galactica made contact the Earth vessel asked to come aboard and make a face to face meeting. So the Commanding Officer of the Galactica obliged, and we Fleet Intelligence has provided these pictures of the Earth craft that landed in the Galactica's hanger."

He gave a subtle nod that was the signal for the computer operator to go ahead and start rolling through the previously classified pictures of the Earthers' scout ship. Soon the members of the Quorum were astonished to see pictures taken of the U-306 that SG-1 had landed inside the Galactica. However the faces of the crew were blacked out at the request of Earth delegation, behind the scenes of course.

The slides continued for several minutes as the crowd grew more and more restless and noisy. Soon there was so much noise from reporters talking on phones trying to reach their home studios, questions amongst the delegates and members of the Quorum, and shouts of the normal spectators in the lofts made it all a a very noisy place.

"Please settle down, settle down. If you wish to cry out in joy please do so elsewhere, we still have important business to deal with."

"What could be more important than the discovery of Earth Mr. President?" one of the delegates piped up as the crowd began to simmer down, "This alone calls for a celebration!"

"Indeed it does, however, there is something of far greater importance. Now that we have conclusive evidence of Earth's existence we can now say for certain that Kobol is out there. Our homeworld, the very birthplace of humanity itself. The Admiralty is asking for an expedition to be assembled to rediscover and colonize Kobol and learn the truth behind the Sacred Scrolls."

Of course Adar knew the far more underlying motives behind such an expedition, such as discovering new technology for the fleet to give the Fleet an edge over the Cylons, as well as stimulating the waning economy with new technology. But mostly to give the Colonies an edge that might just convince Earth to either trade or in the most ideal circumstance rejoin the Colonies.

"A return to Kobol will lead to a cost in blood, the Sacred Scrolls say so. We cannot return, our ancestors left for a good reason, and is a reason even we now should dare not return," Quorum member from Gemenon roared out.

"I suppose you would let the Cylons get there first, and desecrate such places as the Tomb of Athena, the City of the Lords, or worse, find the route to Earth before we can reach Earth and defend them from the Cylon threat."

The man from Gemenon grumbled under his breath after weighing the consequences of what Adar had said. But, the thing is, neither man was wrong. A return to Kobol would warrant a cost in blood, that is what the Scrolls say. But they also say that the map to Earth may be found in the Tomb of Athena, and that was something that could not be found by the Cylons, or else they'd mount an attack on Earth for destroying one of their own fleets. But that reason could not be found out by the Quorum.

"Mr. President and my fellow Colonials," the Caprican representative spoke up, seeing a chance to build on the President's momentum for a chance at political glory, "I put forward a motion to gather an expeditionary fleet to seek out our homeworld so that we may prevent the Cylon menace from reaching Earth, and to seek the truth of our own past."

The gathering of men and woman erupted in agreement so loud that any dissenters were intimidated and subdued. President Adar grinned as he walked off the podium to let the Quorum vote on the next plan of action so that he could be left to oversee the preparations of a ceremony to welcome the first Earthers to set foot on Colonial soil ever. The expedition to seek out Kobol was obviously going to be approved, and the Fleet would be providing the escort, now his department had to provide the civilian scientists, archaeologists, and the ships and funding to sustain them. And finding those would be easy, after all, it was only the birth place of humanity, right?

Caprica, Home of Gaius Baltar

The TV was very much the center of his world right now. But come to think of it, it was the center of every Colonial's world at the moment. The President had just announced that the Twelve Colonies had made contact with Earth. It was a truly historic moment to be certain, but many possibilities and problems were certain to follow this joyous reunion.

Seeing as he was a genius Baltar was very quick to examine the situation and come up with dozens of scenarios that could potentially happen. The first was that of hope and 'if this were a perfect universe' situation. Earth would be eager to rejoin the collective of the Colonies and would be quick to assimilate into Colonial government, the economy, and the military. He surmised that because Earth was a single Colony they would be relatively primitive, perhaps still only capable of limited FTL ability and even more primitive weapons and sensors. This was hopeful of him, he knew. But it was only human.

The next situation was also only human. It was the worst case scenario, one of war. He thought that because Earth was on its own it had to go to extraordinary lengths to stay alive as a people and would be fervently opposed to being assimilated after being independent for so long. So, in an act of self-preservation they would attack the Colonies with far superior ships, weaponry, and technology trying to conquer all that stood in their path. And then the Colonies would fall, and everyone would be enslaved. But Baltar quickly threw this possibility out the window. It would be absurd for Earth to declare war out of sheer aggression against an entity as powerful as the Colonies.

Then again, he was being pessimistic, he had just been let go by Fleet Research and Development because the Fleet Defense Network had been compromised. He had been defiant until the end of course, he had designed the protocols and firewalls of the coding. It couldn't have been cracked. But when he had witnessed an old Tiger class Destroyer completely shut down when the supposed virus had been activated he'd been shocked and the project was scrapped and he was reassigned to deep space telemetry. The blow to his pride was unmistakable, that coding had been his life's work and now it had been flushed down the toilet with the simple push of a button.

He hadn't lost everything thankfully, the beautiful blonde woman he had been having quite the spirited relationship with had been quite supportive of him. He was genuinely surprise at this, because the only reason she had seduced him in the first place was to gain access to the Command Navigation Program to get a leg up on the competition so her company could secure a very lucrative Defense Contract from Flet Intelligence. But it seemed her feelings for him and his feelings for her had been far more deeply rooted than either had thought. So she was right there beside him, wearing a rather revealing red tube top dress that barely covered up her shapely back with a few strings and ended right above her knees.

"Well this seems like occasion to celebrate Gaius," she spoke with a slight flirty tone to her voice.

Gauis watched her get up to grab a bottle of champagne, and returned promptly with the bottle and a pair of glasses and started pouring a glass for the both of them.

"So it would seem, however, I can't help but think that this sudden appearance of Earth has something to do with my program being scrapped," Baltar mumbled.

"Oh stop being such a child Gaius, you know how brilliant you are. And who knows, perhaps something may come up that will warrant your unique skills," she said, suddenly straddling him on the couch.

"You're right, the Fleet cannot ignore my skills and my intellect. They need my expertise, especially now more than ever."

"That's the spirit," she giggled, kissing him lightly and then pulled back to whisper in his ear, "I just heard from one of my contacts that the ships that Earth sent have some rather intriguing technology that the military is dying to get their hands on."

"And where would this contact have heard such a tale?"

"You know I have my secrets Gaius," she teased again unbuttoning his shirt painfully slowly.

"And what sort of technology would these magic ships of Earth's have?" Gaius returned the flirting, shakily untying the strings of her dress.

"Oh a couple few things, shields, energy weapons, and cloaking technology."

"What?" Baltar gasped, stopping his attempts at disrobing the beauty on his lap, "Are you certain your contact wasn't a film writer?"

"I'm fairly certain that this information is accurate, and that you will no doubt be assigned to copy this technology for the military. Who else would be better qualified for such a…lucrative assignment?" she whispered, moving down to unbutton his pants.

"Who indeed…" he said kissing her more firmly, "by the way…I've been…invited…to a ceremony…welcoming Earth's…delegation to the Colonies."

"I'll have to…find something to…to wear than…won't I?"

Finally both of them surrendered to their urges and melded into one another in a passionate, and loud, embrace.

Earth, IOA Headquarters

July 10, 2014

The IOA's main center of operations was a single building outside Washington D.C. in the middle of the Maryland countryside where its delegates and employees could enjoy themselves at country clubs and exclusive restaurants with their high standings. But there was a legitimate security concern with placing them out in the middle of the country. It was far easier to keep prying eyes away out here than it was in the capitol. And even the IOA knew that their sensitive oversight responsibilities needed to be safeguarded at all costs.

A black Chevy SUV pulled up at the covered drive through where a pair of armed guards in suits and ties was standing on guard with their sunglasses covering their eyes and preventing anyone from really being able to tell where they were looking. One of them put a hand to his ear and quietly spoke as the second one carefully opened the door for the uniformed pair of Air Force officers inside. The first person out was the unmistakable figure of Colonel Carter followed shortly by General O'Neill.

"Wow," Carter said, distracting herself with the plush and decorated building and grounds that she and her superior had arrived at.

"Have you not been here before Carter?" O'Neill asked, genuinely surprised.

"No sir, I've never _had_ to."

"Well both of us do now, even if these little pricks aren't worth the trouble."

"Sir, I know why I'm here, and I know what to expect," Carter said firmly as she followed O'Neill into the building.

"I don't think you do Carter, the IOA wants heads to roll. Most specifically you and me," O'Neill countered.

"It didn't help things by threatening to have Senator Jackson either walk out of your office or be collected."

"He had it coming! And it isn't about that Carter."

"This is about the Colonial situation isn't it sir?"

"What was your first clue?"

"Sir, I had no choice," Carter replied.

"I know that Carter, but the thing that the IOA is angriest about is that we didn't inform them and let them have a say. You and I both know that the situation demanded an immediate tactical response but the IOA seems to think it didn't and that's why they want us out of the picture."

"They can't do that sir, it's the President and the Joint Chiefs' decision to decide what happens with matters pertaining to the command of Stargate Command and the Fleet."

It was true, Command of the Fleet's warships was exclusive to the military, no matter which country owned them. The Fleet had done a good job of this, the all-American _Alaska_ Battlegroup, the British Commonwealth _Vanguard_ Battlegroup, made up of Australian, British, and Canadian ships, and the Russian and Chinese_ Ekaterina_ Battlegroup made up of Russian and Chinese ships were all like this. And nations that had ships under construction such as Germany, France, Japan, Korea, and It was an agreement for the nations of Earth participating in the Program to never place a civilian in command of a ship unless the ship was built for civilian uses. They had a couple designs in mind for craft like that. The X-309, soon to be the E-309 Voyager class Science Ship was one potential design but its production had been put off time and time again in favor of the swift and deadly warships like the Battlecruisers, Battleships, and Carriers of the Defense Fleet. Those ships would be handed over to an international crew that would go and do science stuff, with an escort that could easily take over if the situation was deemed dangerous.

"No but they have some really shady ways to get what they want, but I'm going to warn you now Carter, the Hammond, you're losing her."

"What?!" Carter stopped in the hall, "I'm losing the Hammond?"

"I have to throw them a bone, if only to keep them off my back."

"So you're relieving me of command?"

"I'm transferring you to Terra Nova, I need someone I can trust in command of that base and you have the experience to do the job and the brains to make that base worth the resources we're pouring into it."

"Terra Nova?"

"You did a Helluva at Atlantis, and I can't transfer Landry to Terra Nova, or else I'll have to either put a rookie or take my most experienced SG Team leader in command."

"Mitchell," Carter said, naming the potential candidate.

"And if I don't send you to be the commander of Terra Nova command will end up with the IOA. They want that base in their pocket badly, it is strategically important because of the location it provides nearby and the sheer importance it has to future war supplies and production. It's classified as a military base and will have a military commander. That's the setup right now, but it could change if I don't appoint someone quickly. The IOA wants that base in their back pocket as leverage so they can gain access and command of other bases like the Alpha Site, Atlantis, then Stargate Command and finally…"

"Homeworld Defense."

"You see why I have to move you off the Hammond? There are plenty of experienced candidates for the job, and the IOA has no say in the commanders I put on the ships we have direct control over, neither do they have a say with the other ships in the fleet."

Carter nodded, understanding what General O'Neill was doing, he was playing politics, he was doing at her expense of course but she knew what was at stake here. The IOA had never been intended to be a command entity, but no one had told the IOA that. So this was Jack's way of making sure that their ambitions of control never came to fruition. Plus Carter knew deep down that she was not really cut out for command of a ship, even it was a ship dedicated to General Hammond's legacy. But on the bright side she was going to the largest offworld base the SGC had ever established.

The duo continued walking until they reached a room where they knew the metaphorical sharks would be circling, waiting for the kill. So they walked in to see the members of the IOA all speaking amongst themselves at a half circle table that was taller than it normally would have been. In fact it looked just like the table of the Supreme Court. All of this, coupled with the harsh glares from the IOA representatives, the fat profile of Senator Jackson included, gave the whole room a real sense of it being a trial instead of a hearing.

"Sorry about the delay General, our last meeting ran a little long," one of the delegates said.

"That's alright, the shorter the better I always say," O'Neill grinned, trying to put on a false image of confidence. But in truth he was nervous, who wouldn't be?

"This hearing on the actions and testimony of Colonel Samantha Carter and Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill will now come to order," the Senator called out, the arrogance in his voice shining through as the delegates turned their folders to the proper spots to begin this meeting, "We are here to hear testimony on the events of June the twenty first with the attempted rescue of a Colonial military officer from an unknown entity known as the Cylons. During this operation Colonel Carter was authorized the use of force against the Cylons without even taking into consideration the implications for a retaliatory strike by the Cylons. And General O'Neill, her commanding officer did not even inform the IOA, or get our permission to conduct this operation in progress until after the fact."

"Excuse me? Your permission?" General O'Neill butted in.

"Yes General, our permission, that is why we are here is it not?" the French delegate, Jean Martin, replied.

"In matters of military operations you do not have the authority to prevent us from acting; this was a military rescue mission of a high priority individual from a hostile force who had taken life in the form of over fifty Colonials on the Warstar Zeus in the act of abducting of Lieutenant Adama."

"And Colonel Carter, you returned this with an act of aggression by invading recognized Cylon territory?" Senator Jackson snapped.

"Aggression? We do not recognize the Cylons, nor their territory, and we were fired upon first after an attempted forced entry into our fleet's systems using a virus clearly designed for the purpose disabling a ship to make it an easy target. It was clear at that point that the Cylons were aggressive and so we returned fire and easily won against far larger fighter forces and larger individual ships with only light casualties among our fighters," Carter replied.

"But you had invaded their territory had you not?" the Chinese delegate, a woman by the name of Wu, responded.

"Oh cut the crap!" O'Neill finally snapped.

"General…" Carter whispered, desperate to get him under control.

"Colonel…" O'Neill responded, stopping her from interfering even if it was for his own good, "the fact of the matter is this: These Cylons are aggressive, they proved that when they killed those Colonials trying to kidnap Adama, then they proved it again when they tried to hack us and then shot at us! 3We had every reason to launch a rescue, because if these guys found out about Earth before we found them we would be royally screwed."

"And all of this because you did not get our permission!"

"We don't need your permission! Legally you have no say in operations like this, what makes you think you do?"

"Because you have proven with your cowboy attitudes that we need to have more than an oversight role, starting with the battle against Apophis and the Gou'ald, then the battle with the Replicators, then the Ori, and the awakening of the Wraith, it is proven that you have brought more enemies than friends right to Earth's doorstep. The Stargate Program is too serious a thing for the military to be in control. It must be in civilian control to ensure a secure, well regulated, program that doesn't attack the first thing that rears its head."

"Gentlemen, please," the most level headed of the IOA people, the British man, a former SAS man O'Neill was familiar with, stated, "I do believe we are getting off topic."

"Yes we are, thank you Mr. Tavish," the Russian delegate responded, "Now Colonel Carter, in context was their anything you could have done differently?"

"In context? I personally don't see what else I could have done, I followed my protocol, attempt communication first, and do not fire unless fired upon."

"Then perhaps we may want to consider a meeting later on updating our protocols?" Ms. Wu mumbled.

O'Neill could see things were changing and was actually quite relieved with the situation. His point on the IOA not having the legal authority to make command decisions had the desired effect. The members of the group knew their protocol very well. So whenever they were called out for overstepping the bounds of their authority they did what any politicians would do. They stepped back and moved on and tried to push blame on someone else when the issue was forced.

"But we still have the issue of the decision to bring Colonial observers aboard one of our warships," the Senator pushed again, trying to restore the blame for wrong doing on the Air Force officers.

"Yes, that was a breach of protocol, General, Colonel, you of all people are aware of what can happen if our technology fell into the wrong hands?"

"I'll admit, it wasn't the best of our decisions," O'Neill said, "But in context the advice from Commander Adama, the Colonial liaison, was instrumental in our decisive win. We would have lost a great many more pilots if he hadn't told us of what to expect."

"Yet we still lost people," the Chinese woman said back.

"That's what happens in battle, especially since this was the largest space battle that we'd ever had, so odds were we would have lost people anyway. And the rate at which we ended up destroying enemy fighters was one hundred to one, quite acceptable, even for the base model of F-302," O'Neill replied.

"True, but it is still a massive and unforgivable breach of protocol to bring the Colonials aboard to report on our strengths and technological superiority," the Frenchman said.

"Excuse me sir, but I'm quite sure you understand the situation we were in. The Colonials had been very pushy, and very demanding in the way they treated us. We had to give them something to put them on their heels."

"That isn't your job Colonel," Jackson replied, "That's what our negotiation teams are there for."

"Regardless of the situation, your intentions were good, but your course of action may do more harm than good. Perhaps not in the short run, the Colonials will more than likely be very hesitant to underestimate us, but they will no doubt push for access to our technology."

"And we will obviously refuse them, but we do have to consider they might push harder and harder even to the point of attempting seize the technology they want."

"Oh please," O'Neill groaned.

"Excuse me General, but didn't you do the same thing?" Jackson responded.

"There was a clear and present danger, and the Gou'ald were hostiles Hell-bent on destroying us. The Colonials believe us to be a sister colony. The situation is completely different."

"Are you certain about that? Won't the Colonials try and assimilate us into their own domain? And do you honestly think that a culture as religiously motivated as them would just say oh shucks maybe you'll change your mind if we say no to their offer to join them as their thirteenth colony?"

"Not to mention that they know that we have superior technology, and will want that technology."

"Well…" O'Neill looked over at Carter, who was stumped as well.

"Well that's what you're for isn't it?" Carter stumbled out.

"Indeed it is, but because of your impetuous actions we are in a very tough situation Colonel. We have a race robots that has untold numerical superiority, nuclear weapons, and an FTL system we can't counter. Not only that but have a brewing powder keg with the Colonials, who know that we have tech they don't and will want that at any cost, not to mention they want us as a planet to join them and will be set off at any moment by religious fanaticism," the Russian scolded.

"They're not all religious fanatics!" O'Neill replied.

"But their leaders are," Jackson replied, "This Quorum, that Lieutenant Adama spoke of, sounds like an appointed religious oligarchy and as such they are influenced by faith, much like the Crusaders of the Middle Ages. So it stands to that, they, not necessarily their people, may lead the drive for a campaign of assimilation with religion as their reasoning. And religion is a very persuasive argument."

He may have been a bastard, but he was smart, and what he was saying made sense. Kelsey had told them herself. The Quorum was religiously motivated, and when you have decision makers with religious motivations things tend to end badly if they get angry or they feel their religion has been insulted. Examples of this existed and still exist on Earth, the Crusades, the Jihads, the unrest in the Middle East, Earth was no stranger to religious fanaticism. Even the Stargate Program had to deal with it being a prime catalyst for the fanatical Jaffa and Ori who led the charge against the fledgling Earth forces secretly arrayed against them. So the IOA was extremely wary of the Colonials due to their link between government and religion.

"Well, that's why we need to tread lightly, and why I have decided that Colonel Carter may not be suited to front line assignment as commanding officer of the Hammond," O'Neill said, choosing his words carefully to make sure he didn't piss off Carter, who he secretly had a thing for, and to make the delegates believe he had seen the light so to speak.

"Yes, we have reached the same agreement General, Colonel Carter's record is exemplary granted, very few have done and sacrificed so much for the welfare of Earth, however…there are a few black spots, this being the greatest of them," Jackson added, grinning in comfort believing he had won some sort of victory.

"However, Colonel Carter's talents are too useful, and her management skills have proven effective in command of installations such as her tenure at Atlantis," O'Neill added onto his speech, stopping the smile on Jackson's face cold, "Which is why I have reassigned her to Command of Terra Nova, and the military, production, and research facilities there where her considerable intelligence and management skills will prove quite useful."

"What?!" the Chinese delegate responded, enraged, "We never approved that!"

"You don't have the authority to, Terra Nova, as of this moment is exclusively and military installation and is still in the early construction phase. There is no civilian presence, as of yet, which necessitates a military approved, military appointed, commanding officer. Eventually there will be a sizeable civilian and IOA presence, which will mandate a civilian leader that you will need to select yourselves but due to the size of the base itself the overall commander will be a military officer. And for now, the military has chosen Colonel Carter," O'Neill responded, then looked down at his watch, "I hate to be a cut and run type of guy, but I have a briefing with the Joint Chiefs on the situation both here and in the Pegasus Galaxy."

Jackson growled under his breath, knowing the protocol like the back of his hand. He wrote it after all. But he had managed, in his mind, to get the cavalier Carter off of a ship and in an office where, frankly, she could better use her talents, and he'd done it by not having to get the President involved, who would have doubtlessly taken O'Neill's side. So it was a small victory, but he didn't want to be made a bad guy by keeping the Joint Chiefs waiting and having O'Neill blame it on him. Those men hated him already.

"Very well, I call this meeting adjourned. General, Colonel, thank you for your time and for your testimony."

He took a small wooden gavel and pounded it down softly but loudly and got up to escort the two officers out.

"Well played General, well played, but this isn't over."

Caprica City, Reception Room of the Athena Opera House

Two Days Later 

To say that there were many, many, many things to do was quite an understatement. The security measures alone had taken all the resources the Presidential, Quorum, and Fleet Intelligence Security Services to clear out the surrounding buildings, securing the roads, clearing out the airspace, and setting up everything that would be needed to guarantee the safety of the event.

Even the mighty fleet had mobilized to be sure no attempted attacks could be mounted from space. Three entire Battlestar Groups, the only ones with Warstars besides the damaged Zeus, now in dry-dock were in orbit with every single Viper and Raptor armed to the teeth ready to take off to protect the planet below. They would be at Condition One, the highest readiness level that the fleet had. And enough DRADIS Scanners were operating that if a single speck of dust floated in the wrong direction the fleet of over a hundred ships, including over twenty Battlestars. The Army and Marines were standing by with fifteen crack divisions ready to swoop in to contain any outbreak of violence or hostilities with Earth. Every cop in the city was out patrolling the streets, including Response Teams (The Colonial equivalent of SWAT), Riot Police, and patrol officers. Every single security camera in the city had its feed being transmitted to the event's security detail. No expense was spared.

The same was said for the entertainment. Every single great musical artist from all the Twelve Colonies would be performing at the event to showcase Colonial culture throughout the Colonies. Dancers, poets, comedians, and even children's choirs from the most renowned schools would be performing at the thirteen day event, one for every Colony to showcase themselves before the Earth group, who would be doing the same thing on the thirteenth day. Albeit with videos instead of the actual people due to security concerns. But the Colonials weren't the only ones with security personnel present, Earth had expressed a firm assertion that their own security people be a part of the preparations, so a special unit from a group called the Secret Service would be present.

The big wigs of the federal hierarchy would be there as well, except for an unspecified member of the Cabinet who would be spirited away to a secret location should something happen that might threaten the entire political leadership. Also present was entire Admiralty except for two Admirals who were out on their ships, ready to take command should the Admiralty be compromised. The Earth delegation was slated to be roughly thirty civilians and twenty military people from their most powerful and influential nations. Each had been briefed on the circumstances and what to say and what not to say. A security detail would accompany them all totaling roughly a hundred more Earthers. After all, there was a lot to see and a lot to protect.

The decorations had been taken care of by the most talented interior designers of the twelve Colonies, the finest silks, flags, banners, and carpeting would be replaced with equally valuable and brilliant decorations from every Colony every day. It was a tall order to be sure, but the great people of the Colonies had taken on the challenge with gusto, and had already put out the decorations for the Colony of Aerilon and had arranged for all the greats of Aerilon society to be there, either performing or being present to meet with the Earth people. Their great Pyramid Teams would be there, with a video of their season highlights to showcase Colonial sports playing in their own part of the opera house. Their ruling leaders and their Quorum representative would be present as well. It had been decided that the Quorum should not be present all at once, for security reasons, so the individual representatives would be there one at a time. The finest military unit of Aerilon, the 120th Marine Airborne Infantry Regiment, would be in its Dress Blacks holding their ceremonial, yet still deadly weapon, an old bolt action rifle with a long bayonet attached. These fine men and women would be standing at rigid attention at specified points where they could look good, express a sense of pride for all Aerilon and most importantly, be in position to be a firm first response unit should the need for them to snap into action arise.

But something that had perplexed the less knowledgeable Colonials was that the Earth delegation had asked for a popular museum piece be moved into the opera house. The piece was known as the Ring of the Lords. It was a large heavy ring with many symbols etched on it. There were seven large red gems that were made of a unique material nowhere else found in the Colonies. A smaller identical piece that had the same things etched on it had also been asked for and after careful maneuvering both pieces were in place in the main entry room. Most of the Colonial security thought that it was a religious item for Earth, but little did they know that it was something else of unimaginable capability.

It was a Stargate.

**So I guess we can see what is happening next. Or do you…**

**Also, I'll do something just to have a little bit of fun, Stig Facts. I have been watching the popular show Top Gear on BBC America. They own The Stig and his facts, I'm just doing it because it has become my favorite TV show and I might just write a story about it when I finish this one.**

**Some say that he drinks by sucking the moisture out of ducks, and that he sleeps inside out. All we know for sure is...he's called The Stig!**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Stargate is revealed, and the party begins.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay another chapter, sorry it took so long but I've been working on a few other projects.**

**But before you read on I'd like to clarify something. Many of you are saying that some of things happening are not "Realistic" and you would be right, if I were aiming for the type of realism you are thinking about. You see, in my mind fan fiction exists in a fragile balance. In the realm of realism there are different types. And the two I think about are similar in many regards, yet very different in others. The first type is Real World Realism, this is what many of you are talking about when you say that parts of the story are not realistic. But there's another type of realism that is relatively unknown and ignored, Canon Realism. This is the art of trying to make something like the movie, TV Show, or book it is based off of, like trying to keep to character, or keep to technological standards and political atmospheres. It's these two Realisms I try to balance in this story, but sometimes it is very hard, and rightly so, I've set myself up with quite a challenge. If I mess it up that's what Reviewing and PM's are for. So if something may not be realistic in a real world scenario, think about whether it would be realistic in the realm of the canon material it's based on. And anything that deviates from both is just either creative liberty or an honest mistake.**

**Now I'm done with that, please enjoy the story and keep the points I mentioned above in mind if you decide to review, which I encourage, I have anonymous reviews allowed so everyone can have a say. But do not abuse it, I've had a rather pointless review that said, and I quote: "I suck dick." So darth-117. Do it again and you will ruin the anonymous reviewing ability for the others.**

**Chapter 10**

Location: Caprica Opera House, Site of the Reception

Date: July 12, 2014

Time: 2000 Hours Lima

The crowds were filing into the massive greeting hall where hundreds of the most influential of Aerilon's society were awaiting the arrival of Earth's diplomatic party. There were famous actors, athletes, lawyers, doctors, businessmen and businesswomen, politicians, and military leaders crowding in. The 120th All-Aerilon Marine Airborne Regiment was standing at rigid attention with their old antique rifles at their sides. The only people of any standing not from Aerilon or high ranking officials were reporters covering the event from the ground floor, outside, and in the balconies. The security was reporting that everything was clear, and the President of the Colonies was at relative ease.

But there was one thing that was distracting him quite a bit. Earth's delegation was late.

"Mr. President," Admiral Nagala said, walking up behind him.

"Oh Admiral, how are you?" Adar replied.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to inform you myself that the Fleet over the planet is reporting that they're ready and waiting."

"Thank you Admiral. But I have nasty suspicion that they will not be needed, Earth's delegation has not yet arrived."

"Do you think that they're standing us up. Because…"

The Admiral's next word was stopped short by a very strange noise coming from next to them. The President and a few other high ranking delegates were standing around the Ring of Lords, a large artifact that had been moved to the center of the hall at the request of Earth. It wasn't really known by the majority of the people at the party why a popular artifact had been moved to the Opera House but its purpose was well known by the high ranking military and political officials. A special detachment of the President's own personal protection detail was standing around the ring and its accompanying artifact, the Table of Constellations. There wasn't a nylon rope to keep people away but instead the detail kept everyone well away.

But the noise that came from the ring made those near it pause and then stare at the single jewel on the top of the ring as the sound of grinding stone echoed out as the entire theater fell silent as another jewel lit up, then another, and another. A great many people tried to get closer to the ring but the security detail instantly shoved them back while additional security flooded in and prepared themselves with their hands on their pistols and machine pistols beneath their coats. The President walked back to the very front of the crowd so that he was easy to be seen.

Mumbles from the crowd were rising quickly as all eyes and cameras were on the gate. Then, without warning, the gate lit up in a vortex of what appeared to be water jetting forth from the mouth of the ring. The entire gallery of people completely backed away in fright and surprise as the cameramen zoomed in to get a better look at what it was they just saw. By now the vortex was sucked back into a pool of vertical water. Frankly everyone was in awe, the brightest scientists were running their brains to overload thinking of the mechanics, the most devout theologians were praising the Lords of Kobol for such a miracle and the soldiers and security personnel were wondering if it was a threat.

"Oh Gods…" Admiral Nagala said out loud, right before a strange apparatus appeared from the pool.

"What is that?" someone in the crowd asked.

The people all began to get very irritable and afraid that it might just be a bomb, or worse. But before those fears came to realization the ring all of a sudden yielded people, many people.

Stargate Command, Earth

"I'm still against this whole thing," Jack O'Neill said, adjusting his dress uniform and checking over all the numerous ribbons, medals, and awards he had on it.

"Oh come now General," Senator Jackson replied smugly, "they've offered to show us all about their culture. It's also not your decision, matters of diplomatic meetings are the IOA's forte, and something like this needs our best and brightest. After all, these Colonials are a rather…tricky bunch."

O'Neill grumbled under his breath, something like this was not what the military had wanted. But, the Senator was right, this had been moved from a first contact scenario to a diplomatic negotiation, so the civilian IOA had taken over, and mainly to get a good feel for the culture society, and government of the Colonies. But there was also a more sinister and perhaps childish reason for the IOA sanctioning, asking for, and setting up a formal diplomatic meeting with the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. It was to push the boundary of how far the IOA could act on its own in offworld missions, and privately it was for Senator Jackson to teach General O'Neill and the military at large, a lesson, and rub it in their faces that the IOA deserved the right to have complete control over offworld matters.

The gate was activating as the largest diplomatic party the SGC had ever sent offworld went through its final preparations. Everyone had been given a listening/recording device to listen into every conversation they have and what the people around them say. Cameras were mounted in the lapels of their jackets disguised as a decorative item matching the point of origin of Earth on the Stargate. They'd all been briefed on what to say and what not to say, the topics to avoid being religion, military, and technology. Harmless little items such as sport, language, movies, music, and the like were okayed, but the twenty international diplomats and ten high ranking military officers from many nations were still a little tense. Even if there would be a protection detail provided by the Diplomatic Security Service of one armed man per person.

O'Neill had to admit, it was one thing the IOA got right, he didn't trust the Colonials with the job of protecting the delegation at all. Especially when he had reason to believe that the Colonials could be set off in an instant, like they were when the Alaska Battlegroup had returned from Cylon Space with Kelsey rescued.

22 Days Ago

In Orbit Around Gas Giant Ragnar

"_DRADIS contact!" _

_Admiral Cain's head snapped up to the DRADIS scanner in Pegasus's CIC. The Earth ship had been gone for several hours, off doing who knew what. It was common consensus among the crew and the high ranking officers that if the Earth ship was on its way to join an Earth Battlegroup and tangle with the Cylons then they'd be torn apart. So she'd had the entire fleet on high alert, waiting for the pissed off Cylons to come with a retaliatory strike after snacking on those puny Earth ships. She personally had no confidence in the ability of the Earthers' to beat the Cylons. Her own logic was that if the Earth fleet had classified their ships any different than the Colonials then if the Hammond were a Battlecruiser then even if they had a ship classified as a Battleship, like Tauron used to do back in the ancient times, then it would only be about a half to double the size of the Hammond, _not the size of ship you want fighting a frakking Basestar_. Then she grinned_, that's why we built the Battlestars_._

"_Identify, now!"_

"_Six contacts in formation, five match the configuration of the Hammond! It's the Earthers, their back!" the young ensign at the console shouted gleefully, "And…and there's another ship in the center of the formation. This one is much bigger, make it twice the size of the Hammond type ships."_

_The CIC was a noise of silent murmuring as everyone tried to figure out if the Earth formation was crippled as they would expect them to be if they were in a pitched battle. Or even if this was all that had made it. Or if they had accomplished their mission at all._

"_Hail them," Cain ordered._

"_Yes sir."_

"_Attention unknown vessels, this is Admiral Cain of the Colonial Battlestar Pegasus, identify yourselves."_

_There was a pause as the CIC itself froze, not even the monitors dared beep or move as Cain awaited the answer. _

"_Attention Colonial Battlestar Pegasus," a new voice called out, this one a man, "This is the Earth Defense Ship Alaska."_

"_Where's Colonel Carter, did the Hammond make it, did you succeed?" Cain spat out. _

"_Colonel Carter is unavailable, she was recalled to Earth. This is Brigadier General Tom Franks, Commanding Officer of the Battleship Alaska and the Alaska Battlegroup."_

"_Very well General, but I must point out that you didn't answer my question. Was the rescue a success?" Cain practically demanded._

"_Yes Admiral, the mission was success. Your pilot and liaisons are safe and well," the man replied, "They're en route towards your formation."_

"_Thank you General, did you encounter any Cylon ships? I only ask to be sure my superiors can prepare for a possible retaliatory strike."_

"_That we did, four of those ships you call Basestars engaged us when we attempted to make contact, however we easily dealt with them."_

_The entire bridge crew was slightly confused, even Belzen was furrowing his brow._

"_You can't 'easily deal with a Basestar,' it takes a barrage of nukes to make it easy. Even then the Raiders alone…" Belzen began babbling._

"_Colonel…" Cain snapped, "Can you repeat that? Did you say, 'easily dealt with?' How did your ships take on four frakking Basestars and destroy them, let alone do it 'easily?'"_

"_Admiral, you may have the bigger ships, but I've got the more advanced ones," General Franks chuckled._

"_Ask your people, officially I'm not allowed to tell you. But they saw what we're capable of with their own eyes, and the gun cameras on the fighters you brought along are fairly hard things to argue with."_

"_Get Commander Adama to the Zeus, now…" Cain hissed quietly to Colonel Belzen who nodded and gave the necessary commands, "Well, thank you for returning our pilot back to us, again. We're sending you directions for a place in our formation…"_

"_Admiral, let me stop you right there," General Franks cut in, astounding everyone in the CIC, _no one cuts off Admiral Helena Cain!

"_Excuse me?"_

"_My superiors have given me standing orders to keep my ships out of your formation. This is nonnegotiable, no matter what you say or do, my fleet stays right here."_

_Admiral Cain could understand that, and she had the levelheadedness to acquiesce to that, she would feel the same way. But it was at this exact moment that the radio crackled with the voice of the one person who could not handle being told off, Admiral Powers._

"_General Franks, this is Admiral Powers, commanding officer of the Warstar Zeus and this task force. I urge you to reconsider moving your ships into our formation. It's for your own safety…"_

"_Admiral I mean no disrespect, but I have my orders. The Alaska and this Battlegroup will keep their distance at two thousand kilometers. Any move to encircle us will be met by an immediate redeployment of my ships," the General replied, very much trying to state his orders in the easiest way possible._

"_Son, I have my orders, and they will be followed," Powers started, very much letting his own ego govern what he was saying, "It will be much easier if you cooperate."_

"_Admiral, I highly advise against that, my ships have the ability to outrun and outmaneuver your ships. And I will obey my orders, the Alaska Battlegroup will not be boxed in."_

"_You will not be boxed in General I can assure you. We are only placing you into a protective net for your ships' own protection. Now I know you realize that with the full might of our forces we can keep your relatively smaller and weaker ships out of harm's way."_

"_Admiral, my own forces handled ourselves against the Cylon Basestars without breaking a sweat, if your ships are of comparable armament then we'd do a better job of protecting you than you protecting us if an attack were to come."_

_The line was absolutely silent, Admiral Cain swore to herself, Powers was the last person you wanted to tell off. The man's ego was as big as the Zeus itself, and whenever he felt that he had been slighted, the shit really started to hit the fan._

"_Admiral, I have orders from the Zeus directing us to move around to encircle the Earth forces," one of the crewmen called out._

"_Gods dammit!" Belzen hissed, "Now he's done it."_

"_Orders sir?" the helmsman asked, not sure what to do._

"_We have our orders, take us to coordinates," Cain said, "Get me a private channel to Admiral Powers, now. That stupid frakker is about to get us into a war."_

_But before that happened the screen lit up as the Earth fleet darted away at a rapid speed. The DRADIS operator couldn't even call out what he was seeing before the Earth ships had moved nearly to the edge of the Pegasus's effective DRADIS range. Nothing the Colonials had could keep up with them, not even the Vipers were able to keep pace._

"_Admiral Powers I warned you that you couldn't catch us if you tried, I will obey my orders, my fleet will not be surrounded, protected, or quarantined. Now please desist from your attempt to force us into a formation."_

"_Whoa," some of the crew whispered as the Earth ships seemingly danced around with the speed of a fighter._

"_Well, it seems we're not going to be able to obey our orders."_

Present Day

"MALP is sending visuals now sir," good ole Walter called out from his place in the control room.

"What is the MALP showing Sergeant?" Senator Jackson asked with an air of confidence in his voice as he adjusted his tuxedo around the camera on his lapel. Everyone on the political party, including the security and military people were being given an arm band with a circle showing Earth in a classic cartoonish look with a golden point of origin symbol.

"The MALP shows a whole lot of people in front of the gate, most are civilians in fine clothing, suits, dresses, etcetera. Looks clear sir."

"Thank you Sergeant, are we all ready?" the Congressman called out.

The crowd of military officers, professional politicians, and security teams all nodded and General O'Neill started up the ramp, tucking his combination cover onto his head. The other military officers from the other IOA nations did likewise, placing their unique hats onto their heads and nodding that they were ready.

"Follow me gentlemen, we have history to make."

The Senator started walking forward with the security detail right behind him. The military men and women followed their respective diplomat and bringing up the rear was General O'Neill, looking at his watch as Dr. Daniel Jackson walked in adjusting the camera/decoration on his tux.

"Finally, sorry about being late, they had to replace the lens of the camera on my lapel," Jackson breathed out.

"You're alright Daniel, come on, let's go."

The two of them walked up the ramp right behind the main group as the first of them stepped through the event horizon on their way to the Colonies.

Caprica Opera House, Site of the Reception

The crowd gasped as finely dressed men and women walked through the Ring of the Lords and stood before them. Nothing much seemed to be different, their clothing resembled what the Colonies thought was fashionable, their hair styles were of a different do than many others had expected but there were recognizable differences as well as similarities. The security detail could have easily been mistaken for the Colonials' own security. But the thing that set them apart were the arm bands that they all wore to signify that they were from Earth. However, the military officers from Earth were very much different. Their uniforms were more complex than their Colonial counterparts, with a rainbow of colored ribbon and medals on their chests. Several different colored uniforms seemed to distinguish them from one another as well. These men and women were very much military, as their eyes scanned the crowd with a critical and unemotional gaze. But before any of the Earth delegation made a move President Adar, with his personal security detail practically feet away, took a pair of confident steps forward. The supposed leader of the group of Earth delegates stepped forward with a pair of other security men with him as well.

"I'm Richard Adar, elected President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol," Adar stated warmly, holding out his hand to the man, "Welcome to Caprica."

"It's an honor Mr. President, I'm Senator Henry Jackson, appointed Head of the International Oversight Advisory. It is a pleasure to be here," the Senator said, using every bit of political tact in his repertoire to make a good first impression.

"The pleasure and the honor is ours good sir. Now I'm sure that you would like to get to know some of our political leadership, so we have arranged for a cultural exhibition of sorts, to allow you and your people to get to know us. Tonight we have the Colony of Aerilon showcasing their culture, heritage, history, and have invited some of their society's politicians, celebrities, and scientists. And they are all very excited to meet you, and show there is in store for you."

"I am proud to speak on behalf of the governments of Earth that we will be honored to be hosted by the people of Aerilon," Senator Jackson said, speaking more to the gathered crowd than to the President himself.

O'Neill nodded when Senator Jackson nodded to him and lifted his hand to his ear, "Stargate Command, this is O'Neill, we have positive contact."

The radio answered back, "Copy that Jack, have fun."

"Thanks Hank, I'll try."

With that the gate shut down, leaving the group on their own.

The President stepped aside, allowing an older woman in fine light blue robes to step forward.

"I am Julia Aman, the Quorum Representative of Aerilon, it is my most sincere hope that you will be pleased with your stay. My people are proud to be the first Colony to showcase ourselves to you."

"Thank you madam," Senator Jackson replied, "I do believe that we will not be disappointed."

"He is good at what he does," Daniel whispered in Jack's ear.

"What can I say, he's home," O'Neill replied tersely. It was true, as a person Senator Jackson wasn't the most pleasant of people to be around or know. But here, in the realm of politics and finery, he was absolutely in his realm. It almost gave O'Neill a reason to respect the man. But at this point, watching him schmooze with the Colonial leaders, he at least had reason to be glad that he had come along.

"Let the festivities begin!" the woman called out.

The gathered crowd applauded, and a light pleasant song started up as the Earth delegation began to fan out except for the military contingent among them. The crowd of Colonials began to carry on, walking forward to speak with the Earthers, shake hands, and genuinely speak with them. Reporters started chattering in front of their cameras, relaying the events of what they had just seen. The Colonial security teams all started shadowing the individual Earth groups of delegates as the troops in their dress uniforms relaxed back into the position of parade rest.

Daniel was itching to get out there and see all there was to see and O'Neill saw this.

"Jack if you don't mind…"

"Go get 'em tiger. But Daniel," O'Neill called out, making him turn as he walked forward, "Keep your mouth shut."

"Thanks Jack, I will."

"General," the British officer in his red dress uniform tapped O'Neill's shoulder, nodding his head towards a uniformed group of Colonials walking towards the Earth military group.

"I see them."

There were at least a dozen Colonials, and they had different colored uniforms, but their basic layout was the same. The Earthers had been briefed on what some of the Colonial uniforms looked like, the gray ones were of their Fleet, and the blue ones were their Marines. They hadn't seen a wet Navy or Army uniform yet, but there were two other types of uniforms that they were currently seeing. A green one with brown trim must have been their Army, and a white one with blue trim must be their wet Navy. There didn't seem to be an Air Force uniform, or something equivalent to it, but their Air Force may have been folded into their Fleet units.

"Hello, Fleet Admiral Nagala, Commanding Officer of the Colonial Fleet," the gray haired man in the lead said, saluting the group of Earthers.

Salutes were returned as O'Neill stepped forward and extended a hand, "Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill, Commanding Officer of all Offworld Forces."

"General Tom Watch, Commandant of the Colonial Army," a brown haired man wearing a green uniform said, saluting.

"General Damien Gyrem, Commandant of the Colonial Marine Corp."

"Commandant? You guys have Commandants?" O'Neill asked.

"Yes, why?"

"We have a Commandant of the United States Marine Corp, guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh?"

"Indeed."

Up on the balcony was Doctor Gaius Baltar, accompanied by his drop dead gorgeous date. She was wearing a skin tight black dress that came to her ankles but was cut all the way up to nearly her hip to showcase her shapely legs. Baltar was cradling a glass of champagne as he watched the crowd chattering with the Earth delegation.

"Bloody marvelous don't you think?" Baltar said, watching a rather attractive blonde Earther wearing an olive green dress uniform speaking with Admiral Cain.

"Yes, but I know what you're thinking, the ring. They came through that ring and you are absolutely dying to know how," she sensually spoke in his ear.

"Of course I am, we've tested the ring for anything unique many times but we've never been able to make it do a thing. Then one day the ring magically activates to let the Earth delegation come to Caprica. This is something I must be a part of figuring out," Baltar quipped.

"But…"

"But for now, let's enjoy the party shall we?" Baltar said, wrapping a hand around her waist, placing his now empty glass on a passing butler's tray.

"Oh yes, let's."

Behind them were a pair of security personnel who were watching the blonde human Cylon very closely, and followed at a discreet distance. The complex face recognition software that ran the faces of the people who came inside had pinned her as a possible target, but as of now the two Colonials weren't so sure. But they followed their orders and tailed her and Baltar.

Planet Terra Nova, Construction Site for Terra Command

"Colonel Carter," Major Bernardo Francisco, the current head of construction for the massive new base saluted, "Welcome to Terra Nova ma'am."

"Major Francisco, I've heard a lot about you. Your work designing the new construction platforms is remarkable," Carter said back warmly, moving aside to let the column of troops and engineers behind her pass by.

"Thank you very much Colonel, would you like me to see you to your new quarters and give you a rundown on the situation and help you get settled in?" he kindly offered.

"Actually, I'd like to see the surface, I've read the file on what you've gotten done so far," Carter said, handing over her bag to a waiting Sergeant who was her aide.

"Very well ma'am. This way please."

The two officers walked out of the crowding gate room that was now being filled with crate after sealed crate of equipment and supplies. The halls were a mess of crowded chaos. There were men and women crowded in, moving back and forth taking newly arrived equipment, supplies, and reinforcements to where they needed to be. But soon the two officers got into a less crowded area and to an elevator.

"So has gotten done?" Carter asked as they rode the elevator up with a guard inside.

"Well, we've gotten most of the future living quarters done underground along with the water purification systems, mess halls, and everything the base personnel need. But…uh…we're behind schedule. I don't have enough matter synthesizers to keep up with the schedule given to me. I need nearly double the number I have now."

"What's currently under construction?" Carter asked.

"It's the warehouses and the F-302 Factory," he replied, "the scale of it all, it's nothing like anything we've ever done before. And we have had some problems with the synthesizers. As you know, they are mounted on a floating carriage that can be wheeled into place, but their on board power requirements just can't hold out long enough to get make the pace we need to be at. They're shutting down, we're spending as much time replacing the naquadah generators as we are using them."

"Well, if you had the adequate synthesizers would it be a problem, what kind of a pace are you going at? These machines aren't meant to be pushed as hard as I believe you are making them."

"No I wouldn't have to push them as hard if I had more," the Major grumbled.

"What about the fleet construction platforms?" Carter asked as they made it to their final stop, the ground level.

"That's the one thing that's actually ahead of schedule. With the Russian and Chinese ships here outfitted with the larger MS's, the acronym that some of the fellas are using to describe the synthesizers, we've already finished the first of the platforms in the mountains to the west. Six are done, eight are under construction."

"Good, because General O'Neill has gotten requests from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Japan, and India for ships of their own. A grand total of more than thirty new ships, including six Battleships."

"Jesus, who do they think we are? Some magic genies that can just conjure up a construction platform, the personnel, the facilities for those personnel, security, supplies, equipment, and then just pull out a brand spanking new warship. Colonel, I'm telling, you, with the orders from the US, Canada, Australia, Britain, the Chinese, and the Russians, I'm amazed that you have put that much more strain on us. And now you decide to put two new classes of ships into production, ships bigger than anything we've ever built before. Especially this…thing that you called the Enterprise class Battle Carrier."

"And the Carriers," she grumbled, considering the massive task that this massive offworld base now had to deal with, "But that's why we're building big here."

"And so far we have," the man grinned.

"Well, let's see for ourselves."

The two of them walked out of an opened armored gate that was identical to the one used at Cheyenne Mountain, but only in size, its makeup was of far tougher materials like the Carbon/Naquadah/Trinium alloy that was being used on the fleet's newest ships. Once out, a hastily set up garage of Humvees and buggies was waiting and Major Francisco hopped into one of the Humvee trucks and drove off.

"It's night time out here Colonel, so prepared to be amazed."

"I read the report on the local plant life, I'm quite excited to see it for myself," Carter grinned as the Humvee rounded a bend and drove right out into a makeshift basecamp. The sound of miscellaneous talking, Humvees and buggies driving by, and the incessant soft screeching sound coming from all around them from afar filled the air.

The forest was a pristine sight to behold, especially when it was night time. It didn't even look like a forest, more like a toned down Las Vegas as far as the eye could see. A rainbow of reds, blues, and yellows, and all the colors in between spread out before them. Enormous trees stretched upwards in the distance from the valley floor next to the plateau the basecamp was on. The scene sparkled and glowed as the wind disturbed the greenery, making the whole scene pulsate and ripple with the constant sea breeze. The chirps of bugs was very much loud, but not as loud as the unnatural noises coming from the construction of the shipyards overhead, coupled with the hustle and bustle of the personnel outside.

"Wow, it's amazing," Carter said, gasping in awe of the place.

"And there's more out there ma'am. It's just that we haven't fully explored the forest so we haven't really tried to send science teams to do their thing."

It was at that very moment that a rumbling noise distracted them, and what passed by overhead was the large barely lit silhouette of a BB-305 class Battleship. It was the Russians' battleship, and off higher in the mountains plainly visible were the five Battlecruisers operated by the Chinese and Russians. Beams of light were streaming downwards to engulf sections of the mountain, eating it away until it was flat rock. Then even more screeching echoed out as the ships started construction on the docks that would be able to build the Battlecruisers, Battleships, Carriers, and Battle Carrier that the Earth Fleet would need.

"Amazing how quickly that technology can do things isn't it?"

Carter nodded, "Yeah it is, with this tech we can build bases of a better quality much more quickly for a fraction of the cost."

"And we couldn't have picked a better planet to do it on."

Caprica Opera House, Site of the Reception

The reception was actually much more pleasant than General O'Neill had first thought it would be. The people were more curious than anything. The Colonial brass that seemed to be drawn to their Earth counter-parts were very much respectful and tactful. Probably because they know we can kick their ass, O'Neill thought smugly. At the moment he was talking with a few Admirals and Generals about the military history of their Colonies and what had become of their air force.

"Uh Jack," Daniel tapped on O'Neill's shoulder.

"Excuse me," O'Neill politely said to the Colonial officers he was conversing with. He turned around and followed Jackson until he was suitably far from the Colonials, "What did you do?"

"What? Why do you think it's something I did?" Daniel said defensively.

"Isn't it always?"

"Okay, maybe some of the time, but that's not the point," he replied, "I was talking with the curator of the museum where the Stargate had come from, nice guy, really knowledgable…"

"Daniel."

"Huh? Oh right. Anyway, I was talking with him about where they found the Stargate, and he says it was found on Gemenon, one of the other colonies. He claims that the gate was found tipped over under a pile of rubble and the DHD was basically smashed."

"What are you saying?"

"Jack, their DHD is wrecked, I took a look at it, the crystals are shot, half of the symbols are fakes. We can't dial out," Daniel said.

"Well, we can get one of our ships to pick us up. But I will not bring a naquadah generator here, and then leave it just to power up the gate."

"I thought you didn't trust the Colonials with having one of our ships close by?" Daniel said.

"I don't, but they've seen our ships before. Using the Stargate is an ace I don't want to show just yet. Besides, we don't have any idea if more of those human Cylons are here right now."

"Excuse me, General?" one of the Earth security detail walked up behind the pair.

"Yes?"

"Sir, Senator Jackson would like to see you."

"I'll be right there. Daniel, no more talking about the Stargate."

"Got it, but can I…"

"No."

"But…"

"Daniel, no!" O'Neill repeated.

Daniel just grumbled to himself, and turned around, only to see a very striking young blonde woman right behind him. She was a reporter, judging by the fact she had a camera crew right behind her. She was in a light blue dress, but her camera crew was in normal work clothes. She had a small microphone in hand that seemed to be wireless. She didn't seem to be nervous at all, in fact she seemed as normal as any reporter that he'd seen that night, excited, nervous, on edge. Just like any reporter that was from Earth.

"Uh hello?" Daniel said, "Can I help you?"

"Dr. Jackson? My name is D'Anna Richards, Channel Eight News. May I have a moment of your time?"

Jackson recognized faces very easily. And this was a face he recognized. He'd never seen this face alive, but the face was unmistakable. She was a Cylon.

**And done. Sorry once again about the delay. But Red vs Blue is starting up again and I really felt like I had a good idea for my RVB story (Which I'd be delighted if you would read if. *hint hint*).**

**Next Chapter Preview: Daniel meets camera, reporter, and Cylon. Does he blow her cover? Or does he do what Daniel usually does? And Laura Roslin meets O'Neill. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Here we go again folks, thanks for all the positive reviews and suggestions. I really appreciate it. Also, thank you for those of you who read the Author's Notes.**

**Now, I have another poll for people to participate in that will affect the story. Should SG-1 be reassigned and a new SG-1 be trained up to take their place? Or should SG-1 stay as is. I have scenarios drawn up for either outcome, as well as potential new characters drawn out to take the current SG-1's place. The plot will not change either way, but it will take time to explain and elaborate on these new characters, so the plot will be slowed down by a chapter.**

**There it is, leave your vote in review form as a "Yes, new SG-1" or "No, keep SG-1 the way it is." With that settled, onto the chapter.**

**Chapter 11**

Location: Caprica Opera House, Site of the Reception

Date: July 12, 2014

Time: 2030 Hours Lima

Daniel was running through all sorts of plans of action in his head as he watched the Human Form Cylon woman in front of him wait for an answer. She was slightly puzzled why he had suddenly gone silent, as if she had no idea why he had suddenly gone cold silent when she'd asked for a simple interview.

"Doctor Jackson, hello?" she carefully spoke to him, trying to see if he was still breathing, "I'm a reporter Doctor, you know, I talk to people and broadcast the news. Don't you have reporters on Earth?"

"Oh I'm sorry, it's just…my ear piece was acting up, our security men. Always talking about new updates in the situations and where everyone is going and is. Official stuff," Daniel said, basically flying by the seat of his pants with that excuse.

"Right…anyway, may I have a moment of your time, the people of the Colonies are dying to learn more about Earth, and its people."

"Of course, Miss…"

"D'Anna, D'Anna Richards," the blonde woman replied with a smile.

"Do have anywhere a bit more quiet, or…"

"Oh we're alright here, our equipment is complex enough to pick out your voice and filter out the back ground noise," she said, reassuring him, "Well, for starters, can you tell us who you are?"

"Of course, my name is Doctor Daniel Jackson, I am a Doctor of Archaeology with many years of work with the Stargate Program and SG-1, our flagship team of offworld explorers."

"Can you tell me Doctor Jackson, how did you make the Ring of the Lords, or as I've heard some of your people call it, the Stargate, do what it did?" she asked, shoving the microphone into his face.

"Well…I can't tell you the particulars, but I can give you a general description."

"That would be alright."

"Well, in a nutshell, the Stargate works by establishing a wormhole through a dimension we call subspace, this wormhole connects with a Stargate on the receiving end, allowing matter to be sent across vast distances within mere seconds," Daniel said, being very careful with the way he worded what he was saying.

"And, how do you make it work?" D'Anna asked.

"I'm not quite sure how, as in, the physics behind it. You'd have to talk to Colonel Carter, she's the foremost expert on the Gate."

"Fair enough, it seems as if there's quite a lot to the physics of it."

"Oh yes, quite a bit."

"And what can you tell us about Earth's own adventures in space?" D'Anna asked again as her camera man moved to get a better angle.

"Well, I can't give you details about that, but I can tell you we've been around the block and can handle ourselves," Daniel replied.

"Why can't you tell us the details of what Earth has encountered and done? Has your government ordered your delegation not to reveal such information?" D'Anna prodded, her reporter's instinct showing through, even if she were a Cylon.

"Wouldn't yours?" Daniel shot back with a friendly tone, not really wanting to sound nasty or rude.

"Fair enough, but what are you allowed to tell us Doctor, I'm sure you can understand that our people are wanting more knowledge of Earth."

"Well, there isn't that much I can tell you," Jackson said, "But, I'll be here tomorrow night, I can probably ask for a more detailed and comprehensive protocol, allowing me to speak about some of our culture, history, that sort of thing."

"Can I make you an offer for a solo interview? I host a talk show on late night television, perhaps, with the permission of your leaders you can drop by?" D'Anna asked, batting her eye lashes, basically flirting to get her exclusive interview.

"Well, personally, I'd love to. But however…"

"Your superiors?"

"Yeah, we have a pretty strict protocol set up for this type of thing, and I really don't want to be taken off the delegation for messing it up," Jackson said.

"Understandable, thank you very much Doctor. Enjoy your evening."

"Thank Miss Richards," Jackson said, feeling a piece of paper slip into his hand and looked down to see she'd slipped her business card into his hand. She waved him good bye as she walked off to go and get more interviews, "Oh boy…"

As D'Anna walked away Jackson saw a few men in suits walking towards D'Anna and her camera crew with grim looks on their faces. Daniel was genuinely worried that he might have doomed her and her crew to the mercy of some nameless Colonial security men who could have been under orders to confiscate film and interrogate anyone who spoke with Earthers in a comprehensive manner. But, little did her know the actual reason for those men were following her.

Nineteen Days Ago

Colonial Fleet Intelligence Service HQ

"_Holy frak," the exasperated voice of Colonel Tom Freyje, head of Colonial R&D, said out loud as the group watched the debriefing of Commander Adama._

"_You think he had too much ambrosia?" another older voice, belonging to Commander Katherine Dean, sarcastically asked the gathered Colonial officers._

"_I doubt it, he may be an old man, but he is the most reliable man I've ever known," the voice of Admiral Jason Tragan, the commander of all Intelligence in the Colonial Fleet said back._

_These three officers were in control of the most technologically advanced sector of the military. Although secretly, the Colonials hadn't abandoned all their technology, after all, why would you make that much progress and throw it out the window? So Colonial Intelligence had continued upgrading and improving on technologies that the Colonials had long thought was voodoo due to the way Cylons could control it at will. For years, they'd been at the very forefront of innovation, advancing Colonial computer systems, FTL technology, weaponry, propulsion, and armor. They had amassed an impressive stockpile of prototype technologies that were as advanced if not more advanced than anything the Cylons had been shown to have. Their research and development teams had developed new FTL engines capable of jumping far beyond anything that the Fleet had, and also had the same jump range and accuracy that the Cylons had shown. The weapons developed and now stationed around the large asteroid in the Helios Beta System's asteroid belt were far deadlier than the standard Colonial weapons, the armor on the inside of the massive hollow rock was tougher than a Warstar's plating but only half the thickness due to its artificial density. Even a new design of Battlestar was being developed in the simulators of the most powerful computers in the Colonies. These same computers were guarded by a series of firewalls that retrofitted Cylon viruses couldn't even scratch, and provided the necessary computing power to do the complex research of the most advanced projects in the Colonial military._

_Expert black ops operators and intelligence agents operated closely classified stealth craft that crept around Colonial and Cylon space, listening for any hints of hostile intent from the Cylons, intelligence on rebel and pirate cells, and hacking into research labs and defense corporations for any sign of an advancement that Colonial Intelligence could use. Then these same operators acted on this intelligence, piercing deep into Cylon territory finding any weaknesses or avenues of transport that could serve as a route of attack for either the Cylons or the Colonials. They looked for installations where the Cylons labored away on their own new designs for weapons and their own evolution. If ordered these ships also had the ability to wipe out pirate fleets without being seen with their more advanced weapons, armor, and propulsion systems. However, they also did one other item that no one outside of Fleet Intelligence and the President himself knew, they had the ability and will to silence fellow Colonials who were deemed too dangerous to allow to live, but too high profile to arrest and try. Sometimes, it was easier to say that they died of a medicine overdose, or a catastrophic failure in their vessels' hull integrity, or in one particularly interesting case, died in an iron smelting plant. These people were the ones who had the experience and secretive technology to handle the type of secret they were being entrusted with._

"_So what do you think? Give us a breakdown," Commander Dean asked._

"_Well sir, if you'll direct your attention to the screen," Colonel Freyje said, tapping a control in front of him to make the screen in the large sealed briefing room light up with the visuals from the two Vipers the Galactica had sent along with the Earth ships, "First thing that we see is that these Earthers don't use a standard method of deploying their fighters. You see here that their hanger looks like it is open to space, yet in the screen there are crewmen that are open to vacuum, this shows that there is some kind of shielding that keeps atmosphere in and allows their craft to deploy at the same time. And it appears as if the Earth ships of the Hammond type have two of these hangers. The ships are built remarkable like Battlestars, yet smaller. And in a few frames we can see a ship twice the size of the _Hammond _types, which we are calling _Hammond _Class Battlecruisers, with the exact same layout. This is what we've identified as an _Alaska_ Class Battleship. "_

_The screen showed several flying wing type fighters zooming past the cameras of the Viper as the Viper itself took off to see, off in the distance, four Cylon Basestars._

"_But another thing we have noted is that the Cylons have upgraded their ships, as you can see here. But, it doesn't do them much good. According to Commander Adama the Earthers waited to deploy their fighters until their ships had taken out hundreds of Cylon Raiders to give them a much better chance at survival. The report says that extremely powerful nukes were deployed to detonate within the ranks of the Raiders and took out most of them, stunning the majority of them. This allowed the Earth fighters, which as you can see are not as maneuverable as our own fighters, to engage at will with missiles and guns not unlike our own."_

"_What about the Earth capital ships? What sort of firepower did they bring to bear?" Admiral Tragan asked._

"_Well sir, we only have fragmented footage of the ships themselves up close in action, but we have been able to see this," Colonel Freyje said, showing them a clip of what appeared to be two of the Earth ships firing blue lines that hit a Basestar and then blew it to smithereens. As that clip played they also saw a blue bubble flashing into existence as several Cylon missiles impacted the shielding of the ships, "We believe these weapons are plasma based, and very advanced. The shielding…it's beyond anything we're working with."_

"_How many could they have?"_

"_With their level of technology, no idea sir."_

"_What about these fighters? What can you tell us about them Colonel?" Commander Dean asked._

"_Thankfully, thanks in part to the reports from the pilots, we have more information on them. It seems that they are highly reliant on long range missiles to fight against hostile fighters. These missiles appear to be smaller and more maneuverable than ours and much faster. They're not as powerful as ours so they're of no threat to capital ships and their layers of flak and thick armor. But back to the fighters, they appear to not be as maneuverable as our own Vipers, but just as fast, and they also appear to be flown by combat veterans judging by the expert way that they enveloped and destroyed the Raiders and by a few close ups we got from the pilots and their reports stating several different types of silhouettes on the sides of these fighters. They claim that the majority of the fighters on the ship known as the General George Hammond are flown by aces."_

"_So good fighters, deadly capital ships, and unlimited technological superiority." _

"_Are we anywhere close to having this type of thing?"_

"_Well sir, we have shields and energy weapons on our list of things to do, but the closest we've come to a full working weapon was the prototype Goblin chemical pulse laser. And shields…my people have said that it would take another ten years to even have a prototype. The problem has been power requirements, it requires a power plant the size of the ones on Battlestars to make a shield that can protect a destroyer," Colonel Freyje replied, "So it is possible that Earth has made more progress into it than we have, and have since mastered well, everything."_

"_If only we had some copies to reverse engineer…" Commander Dean grumbled._

"_Sir, I must strongly recommend that any diplomatic talks made must be to the purpose of acquiring this technology. If we can outfit even one of our Battlestars with this type of weaponry and defenses we could wipe out entire fleets of Basestars."_

"_I'm not as concerned about the Earthers and their technology as I am about the prospect that the Fleet could be rendered inert at any time because of this virus that Commander Adama reported that the Earth scanners found on the two Vipers and Raptor he brought along. Colonel, can you repair this damage to the Fleet Navigation Program?" Admiral Tragan asked._

"_It's rather easy to eliminate the virus sir," Colonel Freyje said back, "All we really need to do is disconnect the network. From there all we need to do is rewire the connections with newer firewalls that R&D has been testing against a copy of the virus we reverse engineered."_

"_How long until you can take down the network?" Admiral Tragan asked._

"_It can happen within a few hours for the ships we have near the Colonies, but the ships on patrol farther out will take some time, because we have to go find each of them, one by one."_

"_And then how long until your techies have a new program ready for testing?"_

"_Hard to say, it all really depends on the success of our new firewalls."_

"_Okay gentlemen," Commander Dean said, leaning forward with her hands clasped together, "I think we need to deal with this revelation of the Cylons taking human form."_

"_You're right, the Earthers recovered a great many bodies, some in better shape than others. But we do have enough to show the faces of seven Cylon forms."_

"_So what are we going to do about it?" _

"_Commander, I want you to hunt these Cylons down, where ever and whoever they are, and I want them alive," Admiral Tragan ordered, "But if they resist or present a clear and present danger, do not hesitate. We cannot let this information get out to the general public. If we do, hundreds could end up being killed by vigilantes on frakking witch hunts and then imagine how that'll make us look in the eyes of Earth."_

"_Yes sir, understood sir."_

Present Day

Caprica City Opera House

D'Anna was in a great mood, she'd gotten the first interview of an Earth representative in Colonial history, and might have gotten an exclusive visit for her talk show on Aerilon. Her crew was reveling in the glory of it all, the food was great, the music was classical and sensible, and the opportunities were boundless. How could anything go wrong?

But as she was setting up her mike for her next broadcast a pair of men in suits walked up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder, "Miss Richards," one of them said, "We need you to come with us please."

"Why?" she asked, signaling her camera crew to start rolling.

"We can't tell you that, but we need you to come with us, now."

"Shut off that camera sir," the other said, placing his hand on the lens and holding it down.

"Who the Hell do you think you are? You can't…" she stammered as one of them took out a badge.

"Fleet Intelligence, we know what you are," he said, leaning down to her whisper in her ear, "Cylon."

D'Anna was taken aback, "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

But as she was about to turn and leave, practically insulted, a slight pinprick on her arm alerted her to the fact something was wrong. She looked down at her arm to see that a small dart the length of a quarter's diameter was embedded in her skin. A small amount of green liquid quickly disappeared into her body and she instantly felt as if her mind and body were no longer under her control. The men stepped forward, one taking the dart out of her arm, and the other taking her arm and leading her away. She attempted to resist but the Colonials' dart had already fulfilled its purpose.

"What did you…" she stammered out.

"That chemical blocks any conscious orders from your mind to your body, but not too much so as to make you completely limp, but enough to keep your standing and moving when prompted," the Colonial sneered, steering her towards a door.

"I'm not a Cylon, why are you…"

But before she say another word the two men opened the door and took her inside, shutting it, and blocking out all other noises. They were in the service halls of the opera house, equipment, decorations, and spare items were littered everywhere along the hall. But inside were several other Colonial security personnel who were wearing tactical vests and were armed with assault rifles. The two men who'd been responsible for bringing her into the hall reported the troops who nodded and took over the job of dealing with the Cylon.

"Have fun Miss Richards," one of the Colonials sneered, chuckling to himself as the two agents left for the banquet in search of more Cylons to capture.

But several yards away, Daniel Jackson had watched the whole thing go down, he'd laid the arm that was wrapped in the band that showed that he was from Earth against a pillar as he watched the Cylon be taken by force to a hidden away door. He'd made sure his camera on his lapel had gotten every second of the confrontation, including when one of the Colonials shot a small dart into the Cylon's arm from what appeared to be a cigar.

"Jack," Daniel said, turning away and walking away, keying his mike as he did so.

"Yeah Daniel," O'Neill responded.

"I just ran into a Cylon, she was a reporter asking for an interview. And before you say anything I told her nothing of importance, but after I left she was nabbed by a pair of Colonial security and taken into a back room. I think we need to be very careful here."

"Okay understood, keep your eyes out for more Cylons," O'Neill whispered, his voice very serious.

"Got it."

Daniel grumbled to himself how he probably wasn't going to be able to enjoy learning about this amazing culture if the Colonials were acting as threatening as they were. But he still forced himself to move away, and not look over his shoulder, even though he was escorted by a security agent.

But the largest concentration of security was wherever President Adar was and wherever he was at Senator Jackson was not far away. At the moment the two of them were enjoying a classic ballet from Aerilon's most esteemed dancing group. Senator Jackson and a few other members of his own entourage were really enjoying themselves as they carefully sipped at fine Ambrosia.

"So Senator, what do you think of Aerilon and its people thus far?" Adar asked.

"It is the most pleasant experience of my career good sir, and if the other Colonies are as rich in tradition and culture as Aerilon is then I can assure you that I will be a very happy man."

"Yes, Aerilon and its people are very refined and cultured. It was from Aerilon that Ambrosia was started and refined to the fine beverages you are enjoying now," the Quorum delegate of the planet said pleasantly.

"Indeed they are madam," the Senator graciously said.

"How does it compare with Earth good Senator?" President Adar asked.

"Well, the Europeans are a very proud and cultured lot, much like Aerilon. There are a few similarities that Earth seems to share that even I am able to see. Such as your clothes, that suit you are wearing Mr. President is a fine example of craftsmanship, that would not be out of place in such stylish places on Earth such Washington, Hollywood, or the Riviera."

"Thank you, and your own suit, it's of a new style that has been experimented with across the Colonies by the most affluent and rich. Is it a similar situation to your own people?" the President said.

"Not quite, it's more a proper dining attire, or something to be worn at one's wedding."

"I see. Perhaps once everything is established Earth's people won't feel very out of place."

The Senator's smile faded, but didn't completely disappear, as his years of experience taught him, never stop smiling. But this little slip of the tongue gave him an insight as to what the Colonials wanted for Earth/Colonial relations. So he had to know more, now.

"What do you mean by that sir? Are you speaking of matters of trade?"

"For starters of course, but Gods willing, we can carefully and gently ease Earth and its people back into the welcoming arms of its brothers and sisters," the Quorum delegate stated rather smugly and matter-of-factly.

"Well, I don't know if Earth is really ready to be folded into anything madam, we are a proud and independent lot we people of Earth. And we have no plans to assimilate anyone into our culture or be assimilated."

Jackson waited calmly for a torrent of protest from these supposed religious fanatics, but the response was unlike anything that he had ever thought of. The Quorum woman laughed, or rather chuckled at his firm stance.

"That is true, but the people of Tauron were the same way, and now, they've become some of our fiercest and most loyal soldiers and officers. Caprica as well was most independent, but now, after realizing all that the other Colonies had to offer they've assimilated and taken their place among the other Colonies as the center of commerce and science of the Colonies. The same goes with all the Colonies, and I'm sure that Earth will have a niche to fulfill."

"I don't mean to be rude, but Earth has long been independent, and has fought long and hard and lost many lives to ensure its sovereignty from outside aggression from foes far more dangerous than many of you can imagine," Senator Jackson said back, getting odd looks from the Colonials.

"Are you saying that Earth has fought against aliens?" one of the Colonial Cabinet asked bluntly.

"I am saying that Earth is fiercely independent. And trying to conquer her has been the death of many tyrants."

"But have you fought against aliens? That is something we must know. If there are hostile alien species out there that are openly hostile then we must know of them to be able to defend ourselves."

"I assure you, if there were any hostile aliens out there that meant you harm you wouldn't have had anything to worry about," Senator Jackson said pleasantly, somewhat calming them down.

His assurances did a great deal in calming the Colonials, who, in their own arrogance in the supremacy of their mighty fleets of Battlestars, took his assurance as a compliment to the Colonial Armed Forces. But in his own mind, Jackson knew that Earth's own forces could wipe away any trace of any hostile entity in the known galaxy. But, he just let the Colonials gloat little, _whatever floats your boat_, as the old saying goes. Yet despite this dodged bullet, Senator Jackson knew that dealing with these guys would take all his expertise and diplomatic resources. Never before had Earth met someone like the Colonials, and Jackson desperately needed this end with a resounding diplomatic triumph to secure the supremacy of Civilian Authority over Military Command.

In another part of the Opera House, where General O'Neill was having a rather pleasant and informative conversation with some of the Pyramid players of Aerilon. They were trying to explain the way the game was played, some basic rules and regulations, and other miscellaneous things.

"So General, what kind of sport does Earth play?" one of the players asked.

"Well, we actually play quite a few, there's football, soccer, the Europeans call it football but they're wrong, baseball, hockey, basketball, rugby, and others whose names elude me," O'Neill remarked.

"All those sports? And you don't know what Pyramid is?" another gawked.

"Yeah, we crave contact sports, trust me, you'll either love it or hate it. I saw the video we'll be showing on football you'll be shocked at how good and violent that sport is," O'Neill chuckled, getting some odd looks from the Colonials.

"Well, I guess we'll be wherever you're going to show some of your sports," one of the Pyramid players said, shaking O'Neill's hand and turning to walk off and watch the video of their team's highlights that were being projected in one of the theaters.

"Excuse me, General O'Neill?" someone tapped on Jack's shoulder.

O'Neill turned around to see a slightly older woman perhaps in her fifties but with dark red hair and librarian style glasses, in fact she reminded him very much of his old principal in high school. She had a pair of security men behind her, poorly trying to remain hidden in the crowd. So she was obviously a member of the government, yet not a truly powerful person, but she still had this wise and kind persona to her that was strangely calming.

"Yes?" O'Neill replied to her.

"Laura Roslin, Secretary of Education for the Colonies," she said, extending a hand to exchange proper greetings.

"A pleasure, I would say my name and rank but I guess you already know that."

"It would be a little bit redundant wouldn't it?" she said smiling warmly, "May I ask you a few questions?"

"I'll answer what I can."

"Thank you, I suppose I would like to know if Earth has a system of public education, seeing as I myself am a teacher at heart."

"Well, most of the world has some kind of a public education system, but that is entirely up to the individual nations of the world."

"So Earth is not a truly unified planet?" she asked, pushing her curiosity.

"Not in an official sense, but the most powerful nations of the Earth are genuinely allied, it's just that a few tyrants and fanatics in a few key sectors of the planet are holding us back from being a unified peaceful world."

"Of course, it's only human nature to have some people that are evil and corrupt. Unfortunately we're not immune from this curse, as we also have a few religious sects, corrupt officials, and criminal king pins that hold us back from our future."

"We're only human," O'Neill said, receiving another warm smile from the Laura Roslin.

"Indeed."

"I'm sorry, I sort of got off topic, where were we?" she asked, trying to stay away from a topic of debate she didn't really know very much about.

"Education on Earth," he said back.

"Oh yes, so does Earth have a system of higher education? Universities, Academies, Colleges and such?"

"Oh yeah, quite a few, we pride ourselves on our universities as much as we do our nations of origin," O'Neill said.

"The same can be said here," Laura said, "I guess we're not so dissimilar after all. I mean, we do speak the same language for the most part."

"With a few differences of course, but that's to be expected," O'Neill said.

"Many things can be expected, but sometimes they are the exact opposite of what we believe possible or feasible."

O'Neill nodded, if only you knew, "So…can I ask you a question?"

"Of course General," Laura said pleasantly.

"Where did you guys find the Stargate, or as you call it…"

"Ring of the Lords, yes well. It was found on Gemenon in a ruined temple that collapsed roughly two thousand years ago. It was completely buried under tons of brick and dirt overflowing with vegetation. It was in that same temple that we found that symbol you have on your arms."

"Oh this?" O'Neill pointed at his arm band.

"Yes, it was written in a very old dialect of Gemenese, saying that it was the symbol of Earth's origin, whatever that means. But I'm sure that probably means something to you and your people."

"How do you know so much about the Stargate?" O'Neill asked, "I mean, you're Secretary of Education, I would think that you would have more pressing matters to attend to than a weird ring thing."

"You would be right then. I only took interest in it when I had to sign off on its transfer from the Athena Museum. All museums are within my jurisdiction and my department's authority…which reminds me. Your arrival robbed me of the largest museum of all, the _Galactica_."

"I beg your pardon?" O'Neill said, afraid he'd said something offensive.

"Your arrival caused the entire military to mobilize and the _Galactica_'s refit from active duty was halted. It was originally going to be a museum in tribute to the veterans and fallen of the Cylon War, and now, it isn't. Apparently it's been reassigned to some new expedition into deep space."

"Expedition you say?" O'Neill asked, now quite interested why the Colonials would send out one of their older Battlestars for a deep space expedition.

Gemenon, High Orbit

As this great celebration took place on Caprica a fleet was gathering over the colony of Gemenon. Over fifty ships of the Kobol Expedition were massed in formation with a protective screen made up of three Battlestars of the older Columbia class, and at its head was the Battlestar _Galactica_, the oldest of them all and the last of the original twelve. These old goliaths had been massed together along with an escorting force of four cruisers, ten destroyers, and five support ships. Also along for the ride was one of the fleet's Marinestars, the_ Ravager_, a specialized transport craft not unlike a cruiser except for the lack of heavy armaments, and its unique capability to enter into an atmosphere and land its brigade of Colonial Marines. The man in overall command was Commander William Adama, who'd been assigned as the Fleet's military commander for the duration of the expedition.

Adama hadn't been too happy with this sudden turnaround in his planned retirement, but orders were orders, and he was going to obey them. In consolation he was given the _Galactica_ and command of the fleet which included two Battlestars he'd fought alongside a long time ago: The Battlestar _Cerberus_ and the Battlestar _Helios_. These two ships were identical to the _Galactica_ in every way but one, they were newer by four years, being a part of the second batch of Columbia Class they were carbon copies of the _Galactica_ and her eleven deceased relatives. Each of the Battlestars was painstakingly armed and refitted for full combat duty, just like they'd been in the old days. The ribbing that had been visible to the naked eye on the _Galactica_ was gone, covered over by shiny new armor plating, her forward batteries had been reinstalled, now both of her flight pods now looked like it did when Adama first set foot on the old girl those many years ago, the elevators and lifts were back in action, new Vipers and Raptors along with their pilots and crews were settled into their revamped quarters, and the ship was stocked to capacity with her standard payload of shells, missiles, fuel, food, and nukes.

It had taken the Scorpio Fleet Shipyards three weeks to get everything back in action with the other two Battlestars receiving similar attention at other major shipyards to meet the deadline for setting off. The _Cerberus_ and the _Helios_ didn't need the same attention the _Galactica_ did due to the fact they were still active Battlestars but they'd been neglected and had been properly pampered as all Battlestars deserve. All in all, these old war horses were looking better than ever and were ready.

As Commander Adama was standing at the plotting table, speaking with Gaeta he was interrupted by a pair of pilots coming up from behind him. He'd had his original CAG transferred out by the Admiralty so that they could implant his son, Lee Adama onto the _Galactica_ for the voyage. He thought it was a publicity stunt, nothing looked better than family serving alongside one another. But he wasn't complaining as he now had both of his children on the _Galactica_, his daughter, Kelsey Adama had been finally cleared to return to active duty service and had refused any other posting except to the Galacica.

"Commander," Lee spoke up coming to attention behind his father with a new pilot next to him, a Captain Roger "Hammer" Queens from the Battlestar Atlantia. He was a war veteran like Adama, having served on the _Galactica_ for a short while before being injured in an accident a few weeks before the war ended.

"At ease, status?"

"All birds are ready, and the Chief has given us the green light. He's like a kid in a candy store with all the new toys his knuckle draggers have to work with now."

"Having over six hundred Vipers and seventy Raptors and all the equipment and personnel needed to maintain it I would assume he'd be quite happy to have a full combat load," Colonel Tigh said again, "Hammer, I haven't seen you in years," Tigh roared, shaking his old shipmate's hand jovially.

"Good to see you too sir. It's good to be back."

"Well Bill I bring good news, the gun captains are reporting their new guns are working like clockwork and their new greenhorns are itching to get going. We also just took on our new Marine compliment, we're at full strength in all areas," Tigh reported.

"Good, good. And the civilian fleet?"

"Sir," Dee piped up, "All ships are in formation and they're saying all personnel are on board, supplies are stowed and FTL's are warmed up."

"Thank you Dee, gentlemen, to your stations, we jump in ten minutes."

The two pilots saluted and left the CIC, which had also undergone a new transformation by being outfitted with new workstations and controls along with several new workstations that had been taken out for use in newer Battlestars seeing as the _Galactica_ wasn't expected to need them at the time they'd been taken out.

The civilian fleet hadn't spared any expense with the ships, supplies, equipment it had been outfitted with. Several massive star liners had been bought or donated to head out on the famous expedition. Some of the brightest archaeologists, scientists, and religious experts had been recruited to join the fleet. Other mining ships, tankers, botanical cruisers, cargo ships, and exploration vessels were assembled within the nearly impregnable ring of Colonial warships with the _Galactica_ in the lead with the _Cerberus_ on the right, and the _Helios_ on the left with the cruisers and destroyers filling in above, below and behind. More than ten thousand people were eagerly awaiting their time to make history as their FTL's warmed up. And in a blinding spectacle of light the fleet jumped, and they began their voyage for Kobol.

**There we go, another one done. Now, for some of you a lot of what I had done to the **_**Galactica**_** was not shown in the series. But you can see a picture of what the **_**Galactica**_** looked like in her prime on Battlestar **_**Galactica**_** Blood and Chrome, it is badass. I think you can view it on Youtube using a mobile device but on computers you can't. Don't ask me how I have no clue.**

**But thanks for reading, please leave a Review to let me know what you think.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The expedition begins, and the party goes on.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Another chapter for the reading! Okay it seems like the votes were pretty one-sided in terms of the idea to have SG-1 be replaced by a new younger group. It wasn't even close, SG-1 stays as it is. I also guess that a lot of you guys are wondering what the heck I'm getting at, the reasons for my madness will become apparent soon, don't you worry. I have a plan.**

**Chapter 12**

Location: Caprica City Opera House, Site of the Reception

Date: July 23, 2014

Time: 2200 Hours Lima

The banquets and cultural sharing ceremonies was nice and pleasant, despite the constant bombardment of questions from the Colonials who just wanted to know more about Earth, especially from reporters. There were a few close calls where an Earth representative or military officer was prodded a little too far, but they kept to their protocol and revealed nothing that might jeopardize their negotiations. But after everyone had left and the Opera House secured, the Earth delegation had to get home. However that was a problem at first, as the Colonial DHD was not operational due to half of it being plastic and the other half being real. The crystals were completely shot, the power source was dead, and the entire apparatus was worthless. So they had to dig into the SGC's research program of a remote dialing device that could do the job of a DHD. Thankfully it worked, and the Earth delegates were able to come and go as they needed.

The Colonials had stepped up security over the following days, realizing how easily a potential strike force could flood out of the Stargate and establish a foothold situation. An entire battalion of Colonial Army troops were set up around the area by day as the next Colony's decorations and technical crews prepared for the following night of festivities. The Colonies were proceeding by alphabetical order so that there was no sense of favoritism among the Colonies. There had been threats from terrorist groups and attempts at attacking the Opera House by said terrorists but they were all found out and stopped before their attacks even started. Some terrorist groups weren't even being given the chance to make a threat or attempt, Colonial Intelligence and law enforcement agencies were crashing down on them all around, dozens of cells, small and large were wiped out to a man within a week. Not even drug cartels were spared the fury of Colonial authority as their hideouts and people were nabbed in sweeping moves by local police. Pirates too were being assaulted by the Colonial Fleet. Dozens of pirate vessels found themselves at the mercy of Battlestars, cruisers, and destroyers, many being destroyed as their captains defiantly refused to surrender to the Colonial forces.

And none of it had gone unnoticed, the USS _Odyssey_, the pride of the Battlecruiser fleet was positioned between Caprica and Gemenon with its unique cloaking field deployed to keep it concealed from the massive Colonial fleet present right above Caprica City. The Odyssey recorded everything that her advanced sensors and receivers picked up and transmitted it via subspace to Stargate Command where the information was dissected by the military and IOA. She also deployed several U-306's to the other Colonial worlds to gather sensor data from the Colonial television, radio, and military channels to get a better picture. The military was weary of the events that had been happening among the Colonials with the fact the Colonial military was rampaging through their territory brutally putting down insurgents and rebels of all types. But the IOA took it as a good thing that the Colonial were cleaning house for the sake of protecting their diplomats on Caprica. But of course, neither was wrong and both were jointly cautious. Every time the diplomatic party would return they'd be briefed on the latest developments that had been picked up by the Odyssey and to judge what the Colonials might be thinking. All this information was used to better prepare the diplomats and create a more detailed picture of Colonial society. So with each passing banquet Earth got a better picture of who these people were, what their priorities were, and what to expect from them in the near future.

But none of that really gave them the same advantage as being on the ground with one Colony at a time, and that meant they had to continue to go to the elaborate banquets that were set up by the Colonials. Dr. Daniel Jackson sure wasn't complaining, he was like a kid in a candy store, asking more questions than he answered, elaborating on possible ancient cultures each individual colony related to, and analyzing the behavior and some languages that were being spoken.

Even Senator Jackson had come into his own with this unique diplomatic opportunity. He'd secured a good reputation among the Colonials as an experienced and knowledgeable professional who just wanted to establish friendly relations with the Colonies. The other international members of the delegation were also running around entertaining the crowds and taking in the scenery and people with professional eyes and ears. In fact, because of all of this information gathering the SGC now had a file on each Colony larger than most other worlds combined. The governments of the IOA were pretty smug about how well their people were doing so they continued to encourage attempts for friendly relations with the Colonies.

But there was one thing that was not going very well. The military leaders of both sides viewed one another not as potential allies, but as an opponent. The majority of the Colonial brass had developed a bad habit of looking down their noses at their Earth counter-parts while another group looked at them with a mix of suspicion and uneasiness. The Earth military leaders were equally guilty, as they looked at the Colonial officers as a potential foe that could go bat-shit crazy with religious fervor. But only a few of the Colonials knew what the Earth military had the ability to do, and whenever they talked, things became very tense.

As they were as Admiral Cain was speaking with General O'Neill. She'd kept her mouth shut for most of the time so she could evaluate the people she was dealing with. But after a few days she began to see which of the Earth officers was the most experienced, the most senior, and the most approachable. So she'd chosen O'Neill who, as she was able to gather, was a man who'd seen quite a bit of combat in his time.

"So General," Cain started, "what do you think of us, the Colonial Fleet. And don't mince words with me, I don't like to beat around the bush, and I'm guessing neither do you."

O'Neill was a little bit taken off guard by Cain's up front and blunt style of asking that particular question. He'd been having to beat around the bush for quite a long time now with all these civilians and politicians so it was a pleasant departure from something he didn't like doing.

"Well, truthfully Admiral…" O'Neill asked, trying to get her name.

"Rear Admiral Helena Cain."

"Thank you, Rear Admiral Cain," O'Neill replied, repeating her name so he got it right for the camera on his lapel, "Truthfully, what I think of your military is that I think you have potential. But you are also a glass castle and you don't even know it. You saw the footage from our battle with the Cylons, you saw what we can do, and you've covered it up so that your people don't feel threatened."

"Wouldn't you do the same thing?" Cain asked.

"Well…yeah," O'Neill replied.

"So you understand why we are being cautious about letting our people know that you fought the Cylons when we have a very strenuous peace with them ourselves."

"Is that why you sent the _Galactica_ into deep space with that Kobol Expedition of yours?" O'Neill asked, getting a very surprised look from Cain, "Oh yeah, we've got our recon ships out there watching for any move towards Earth by your fleet units."

"Commander Adama, his son and daughter, along with Lieutenant Thrace, are a security threat. Plus the ships we sent are of an older model, but still able to handle themselves. Commander Adama is also the most level headed officer in the fleet. In war games very few could beat him head on, that old war horse of his could do things that aren't even conceivable for a _Columbia_ class ship. That's why he is going to be missed when he retires."

"Well, I guess if you're sending an expedition on a religious mission there needs to be someone with a level head to balance out the nut jobs. And those older ships are ships I'm guessing you can afford to lose. But because everything you build is massive your people will not question the fact that those ships, in your mind, are obsolete."

"If what I saw on the gun cameras on our Vipers is true than everything we have is obsolete," Cain said again.

"Against our fleet they are, the Cylons…I'd say you don't have much time before they try and jump ahead after running into us," O'Neill said.

"That's why the Kobol Expedition was sent with such a large escort, both because the Cylons might be out there, and because the Admiralty has a stake in the discovery of Kobol."

"What kind of stake?" O'Neill prodded, sensing something to be learned that might prove very useful.

"That's classified General, sorry, but I'm sure you understand."

"Yeah, I get it. So changing gears here," O'Neill said, "You're a Rear Admiral right?"

"Yes as I've told you."

"So why are you only in command of a single Battlestar? Aren't Admirals assigned to command groups of ships?" O'Neill asked again.

"Of course, it's just the majority of the ships under my command are in dry dock getting some upgrades. The _Pegasus _was about to get her own refit when you Earthers showed up on our doorstep."

"And then rattled a hornet's nest of mile long ships, I get it," O'Neill said.

"Hornets? What's a hornet?" Cain asked puzzled.

"It's a nasty flying insect on Earth, you rattle their nests and the entire hive will be out trying to kill you, hence the name hornet's nest," O'Neill elaborated kindly.

"I see, but we weren't attempting to engage your ship, despite several near misses from some rather interesting terrorists that are always trying to pick a fight with us but never when we decide to turn loose," Cain said.

"I know the feeling, terrorists are the scum of Humanity."

"Besides those Humans who side with the Cylons," Cain grumbled under her breath as she took a drink of fine wine from Tauron, the Colony that had finished its rather focused presentations.

"I'm sorry what was that, Admiral?" O'Neill piped up after barely hearing Cain's hate fueled grumble.

"Nothing…nothing at all."

"Alright fine, you going to be here tomorrow for our presentation?" O'Neill asked.

"More than likely. The Pegasus has been put into dock so she'll be offline for about a month while her refit is being done."

"Alright, because we have prepared quite the showing for you folks."

New York City, Secret Bunker underneath the United Nations Headquarters

The small bunker secretly built underneath New York City's harbor was perhaps the single most protected place that certain delegates of the United Nations ever met. It was a simple layout, straight down below the assembly hall for nearly a thousand feet in a series of elevators and checkpoints to be sure that nothing got in that wasn't supposed to. Around these shafts were ten foot thick walls of concrete and steel built during the later stages of the Cold War. And finally at the bottom was a small set of rooms for housing delegates that needed to live there in case of attack, and all the necessities they needed for living down there for a protracted period. But these hadn't been ever used except for a few leaders who simply went there during breaks in the meetings that secretly went on there from time to time. These meetings were all pertaining to the Stargate Program, the leaders and representatives of eighteen nations gathered here for a monthly meeting on the subject.

And this meeting currently underway was no different, but it's underlying purposes were far more serious. Representatives of the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Poland, Italy, Spain, Norway, Belgium, Sweden, Austria, and Brazil were all gathered together with several of the more senior military officials of the respective nations present to provide a military insight. These nations had been chosen for participation in the Stargate Program for their GDP, military strength, and the ability of their governments to keep secrets.

The meeting as usual started with a briefing on the latest developments on what the galaxy had been up to, the Lucian Alliance's ongoing battle with the Jaffa for supremacy over the worlds they fought over using covert operations instead of outright war, the Wraith Civil War that was slowly but surely annihilating the Wraith as an effective fighting force, and the constant exploration of new planets to establish science bases and military outposts. But the thing that the representatives were most eager to hear about was perhaps the concentration of humans coupled with what was estimated the second largest fleet and military in the Milky Way Galaxy, the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. But that was left for the main point of talks so that more pressing matters could be resolved, like the inclusion of several more nations into the fold. Chief among this new batch of nations was Taiwan, Argentina, the Netherlands, and Turkey.

When this batch of talks came around there were several people who really wanted these nations included, and others who really didn't want them included. And as usual the primary ring leaders were the US and China.

"We will not stand for such a blatant insult against the People's Republic," the Chinese minister, Gang Lau, cried out when Taiwan's name came up, "Taiwan is a rebel territory of China, not a sovereign nation!"

"Sir, Taiwan is a very wealthy, strong , and independent nation," the American ambassador, Jane Lewis, replied back more calmly, "You have long decried our support of Taiwan, but you have never been able to do anything about it. And Taiwan has never done anything to threaten you outside of responding to your aggressive moves and war games in the past."

"I don't think you can grasp the magnitude of what kind of insult this is to China, we understand why you brought Japan and South Korea into the Program, their military and financial resources have certainly made a difference in several situations and my government acknowledges that we are better off because of it. But this…is intolerable!" Gang spat out.

"And we as well are not particularly wild about letting Argentina into the Stargate Program," the British minister, Patrick Wellington, also poke up, "As many of you know, ours and Argentina's history is a bitter one, and we are not very wild about having a nation that has invaded our territory before gain access to the Stargate Program."

This outburst came from the move to have Argentina be brought into the fold by Brazil, who was not too pleased with being the only South American country in the Stargate Program.

"I understand that Mr. Wellington, but the government of Brazil feels that it is necessary to invite more South American countries into the program for a more unilateral representation and so that we may have the forces of Argentina along with their financial assets should we need them."

"Of course these nations will be relegated to lower tier status until they've proven their ability to be trusted with a secret of this magnitude and be able to pull their own weight before becoming a fully active member state," Ms. Lewis said, trying to bring the people not too pleased with the nations being chosen to see that their view on the matter was being taken into account.

The way the group was supposed to grow was to bring in the more stable, wealthy, and powerful nations of the Earth, and bring them into a lower status of activity within the program. They would be relegated to having the option of a single SG Team of their crack troops and scientists or having a small project assigned to them so they could prove themselves in a research capacity. It would be only after new nations proved they could contribute that they were allowed full access to what the SGC and Fleet had in its repertoire.

"However much you try to sweeten this insult it is still an insult! Taiwan is nothing but a haven of rebels and you have no right to bring them into this," Gang shouted again, letting his fury vent out. But the expert American woman was very much handling him, as usual.

"Then what would you suggest? My government will never accept Vietnam or North Korea, you know that. And we have made other concessions such as not allowing Israel to be a part of this program. We all know that Israel is a staunch ally of ours but they are not trustworthy enough to give this kind of technology to."

"Yes that is one concession, and a smart one. But you gained nearly the whole of NATO and Russia and China only gained a few minor items in exchange," the Russian representative, Vladimir Rostov, firmly stated.

"You have gained several ships and weapons systems as well as new research projects and 302 squadrons. Meanwhile many of the other NATO nations have not yet gained any ships, it is a two way street we are going on here ladies and gentlemen," Ms. Lewis stated again, getting nods from the French and German ambassadors.

"As true as that may be," Vladimir stated, "It still doesn't deal with the underlying issue my Chinese friend here is bringing up. We have sacrificed several of our goals to achieve the same level of involvement in the Stargate Program while you and the NATO powers have taken control over time. It is a most distressing situation for us you understand?"

"I actually agree," the Polish representative stated, "My government has directed me to voice a very similar opinion."

"Well, I'm of course open to anything that you would like to suggest to make you feel more valuable as part of the program," Ms. Lewis spoke again, with a more friendly manner in her voice.

"I of course know that the Stargate's location is off the table, even if you Americans have nearly lost control of several situations that would have affected the entire planet," Gang said, getting a nasty look from the Americans for that little jab, "But perhaps a more multinational base of operations of equivalent importance could be established for this purpose?"

"And what base would you suggest?"

"Terra Nova, perhaps if we were to increase our presence on that planet from a mere production facility to a fully equipped base with facilities to train, house, and deploy large numbers of troops and ships from all nations then perhaps my government would accept Taiwan's nomination," Gang said.

Several of the representatives nodded at that. Terra Nova had been an American idea from the start, and the Russians and Chinese quickly picked up on that. They didn't exactly feel at ease with that measure of production capacity in the hands of the Americans, so they wanted their piece of the pie to make sure that they weren't shoved out of the way and left in the dust. Besides, with the additional manpower and resources Terra Nova could grow quite a bit in size.

"Mine would be willing to accept that as well," Vladimir said, nodding politely, rather happy with the proposed option that seemed to grab the attention of the American and NATO representatives.

"Well, I'd have to consult with my government, and if we agree to it there are a few finer points we'll have to discuss so we could initiate that type of plan," Ms. Lewis stated.

"Of course, but it seems that we'll need to come to a vote on the new nations being brought into the Program," the Brazilian representative said openly, trying to speed things along.

"Yes, please," the Frenchman present said, "All those in favor of allowing the nations of Argentina, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and Turkey to join the Stargate Program…"

After a few moments the representatives raised their hands, the Chinaman and Britain were the last to finally raise their hands, as the decision for new member states had to be unanimous.

"Very well, the vote passes unanimously, next order of business. The matter of the recent encounter with a human entity known as the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."

"Yes, I've been looking forward to hearing more about this development," Vladimir spoke up, "Has the IOA published a report yet?"

"No unfortunately. Senator Jackson claims he'll have a full report on the Colonials within a two days time, as they are currently in the middle of sensitive cultural exchanges with the individual Colonies showing off one at a time. But we have had a few reports from the military on the Colonial military and their capabilities," Mr. Wellington said, pulling out a stack of papers, "General Landry, I believe you have the floor now."

It was now that General Hank Landry stepped forward with his own personal copy of the reports compiled by SG-1, Colonel Carter, the Odyssey and the Alaska Battlegroup. He had pictures of Colonial warships, fighters, transports, utility craft, marines, some of their weapons and equipment, and even some of their leaders.

"Thank you Mr. Ambassador," Landry said, "As you know we have been in contact with perhaps the largest and most powerful human entity outside of the Lucian Alliance and ourselves. They call themselves the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Their primary belief is that humanity as a species started on this world of Kobol where they have evidence that they arrived from. We have proven that this world does indeed exist and is nearby to the Colonials and us as well, not even a few hours journey by ship. But we have yet to organize a team to explore this world due to our other commitments throughout the galaxy. But the thing that makes these Colonials unique among the other members of the galaxy's human population is their knowledge of Earth and their belief that we are a fellow sister colony of Kobol. We first came into contact with them when a stray pilot's unique FTL technology malfunctioned, crashing at the Alpha Site, and badly injuring the pilot and killing the co-pilot."

"And what were we able to glean from this pilot?" Gang asked carefully.

"Her name and rank, Lieutenant Kelsey Adama, her picture is in the files that have been handed out to you. We also learned that there is a great deal of religious influence within their government so there is the possibility they could be set off like the Ori and Jaffa were. But, thankfully their military doesn't seem to be up to the job of fighting against our own forces. They have no shielding, no energy weapons, and no long range FTL's. Instead they work like short range jumps, a miniature version of what Atlantis used to get to Earth a few years back."

"So, they are a large military power, how large are their fleet units?"

"We've estimated that they have a force roughly a thousand ships strong. Most are smaller escort vessels and cruiser type ships. But they have several classes of ships they call Battlestars, which are nearly as large as an Ori Mothership with massive fighter carrying ability. Their pilots and crew seem to have mastered zero-g combat, being able to turn extremely quickly with all sizes of craft, we even saw a Battlestar do a full rotation with its broadside facing its intended target going towards it. Their fighters are perhaps the most maneuverable we've encountered, and are armed accordingly with large caliber cannons that are very deadly. Their crews and troops are heavily trained, well equipped professionals loyal to their people and are highly disciplined to follow protocol regardless of religious motivations."

"So…basically we're in the midst of a potential powder keg with a thousand ship fleet, and fifty billion people at its disposal?"

"Which makes them the largest democracy in existence it would seem," Ms. Lewis chirped, "It seems that they operate a rather unique form of constitutional democracy with an elected President by the name of Richard Adar, an appointed cabinet, and a high set of ranking military advisers. I guess the apple doesn't fall from the tree."

"So to speak, and what's more, their leaders have made repeated attempts to gain access to our public, our leaders, and our military," Ms. Lewis said.

"That cannot be allowed," the German official stated, "But that goes without saying."

"But we may risk open aggression on their part if we don't return their open friendliness and good faith with some kind of show of faith in return," the Japanese man said.

"I agree with my colleague here, the type of good faith and friendliness that they have shown to us is unprecedented in the history of the Stargate Program," the South Korean minister stated, "I don't think we have anything really to worry about, if what you said is true General Landry we have nothing really to fear from these Colonials?"

"Not in a traditional military sense, any avenue of approach towards Earth can be met and turned back quickly and decisively due to the limits of their FTL technology. But I do want to emphasize that as such a large human population they are bound to be extremely innovative, especially if there is a dire need to do so," Landry said.

"The General has a point, we've known that our most dangerous foes have been our fellow humans due to Humanity's innovative nature in the face of crisis. We must be very careful about what we do with these Colonials."

"And I also put into my report that the Colonials have dispatched what we believe is an expeditionary fleet to find this world of Kobol," Landry said, "As we ourselves have never been there, it is very possible that there could be a large cache of Ancient technology present that if found by the Colonials would accelerate their level of development quite quickly."

"So it seems we'll need to get there before the Colonials?" the German said.

"Yes, I must emphasize that we get there before the Colonials and most importantly before the Colonials' enemy, a race of machines called the Cylons. It was the Cylons who showed outright aggression towards the Alaska Battlegroup and were destroyed by said forces. If these machines get a hold of a ZPM, or drone weaponry, or worse find other human worlds, the results could be catastrophic."

"So it seems that Kobol is a high priority target of interest."

"I do believe I have figured out a first mission for the new nations of the Program to embark upon," Vladimir said, "The SG Teams that will be deployed by these new member states can cut their teeth on something that is necessary and needed, but doesn't jeopardize our own commitments elsewhere."

"A good suggestion," Ms. Lewis said, "But those kinds of operations are under the control of men such as General Landry, who is in charge of Stargate Command."

"Very well, but I would like to offer my nation's support if the Taiwanese are going to be going on such a high profile mission," Gang said.

"Of course, anyone else who wishes to offer their support is most welcome," Ms. Lewis said, she didn't need to say that the Americans would deploy their own team to go out and tag along with the Turks, Dutch, Taiwanese, and Argentines.

"How long until we can have boots on the ground General?" Mr. Wellington asked.

"It'll take about a week for us to get the new member states' teams settled in and briefed and another two or three days until we have amassed the proper resources and science teams to go to Kobol. But thankfully it does have a Stargate, so transport is instantaneous and impossible to jam unless the gate is buried or destroyed."

"Good, and what sort of time frame can we expect the Colonials to be there?" Gang asked.

"Within a month or two, depending on the accuracy of their jumps, and their own written knowledge of Kobol it's hard to say for certain," Landry stated, "But we can have one of our ships keep tabs on them just to be safe."

"Speaking of ships…" the German man spoke up, eliciting a groan from a few of the other delegates from America, Russia, and China, "my leaders have asked for an update on the status of the vessels we have been promised. And to ask for a Carrier type ship to be built that will be crewed by a Franco-German crew."

"Mr. Zimmernman, we are working at full capacity to get the shipyards on Terra Nova built so that the orders that have been made be yours and the other nations here can be filled out. But we are simply running a little slow but thanks to Colonel Carter's recent commands and policies things are beginning to speed up. But it will simply take time. I have it from good sources that the shipyards on Terra Nova will be operational within two weeks. And the research stations and production facilities will be ready even before that," Ms. Lewis spoke up, "And a new batch of five Battlecruisers is nearing completion on Earth. I assure you, you'll have your ships."

"May we please get back on topic ladies and gentlemen?"

"Yes please."

"We have the_ Apollo_ currently on patrol in the system, we can send them for time being to monitor the Colonial fleet," Landry stated.

"Alright, and I suppose that should take care of the situation for now. On to our next matter of business."

So business went on as usual, the Colonials might have been completely obsessed with the Earth, but Earth was just treating them like any other civilization they had ever encountered. It could only lead to hardships if they weren't careful.

Deep Space, Battlestar _Galactica_

"Red alert, red alert, set Condition One throughout the ship!" the new speakers on the _Galactica_ blared out all of a sudden.

Kelsey Adama jumped in surprise as she was playing pool with Starbuck, and losing, causing her to miss her shot and knock in the eight ball, effectively losing again. She and Starbuck tossed their sticks onto the table and ran full tilt to pull their flight suits on and ran towards the hanger as the crew and pilots mobilized. Marines were manning their stations as gunners scrambled towards ladders and stairs to enter into their turrets and gun control stations. The knuckle draggers were clamping their utility belts around their waists and tightening their helmets as they ran along with the pilots to the two flight pods that were by now a mess of controlled chaos as the deck chiefs and officers directed Vipers and Raptors to their tubes so they could be launched as fast as possible.

She'd been upgraded from Raptor driver to Viper jock after her near death experience at the controls of a Raptor. So Kelsey had been settling in back on board the Galactica which had undergone severe overhauls and refits to get her into active status once more. The halls had been cleared of civilian contractors, equipment, museum pieces, and taken apart panels and then rebuilt from practically the ground up. The _Galactica_ had had her crew nearly doubled with additional crew who wanted to among the first to go out on this glorious expedition and find Kobol. But that meant more training than ever to get these new crew and old crew working in tandem like a well-oiled machine.

"Launch alert squadrons, launch alert squadrons!" the speakers blared again as Kelsey scrambled down the ladder to her shiny new Viper Mk. III, the same type her father had flown in the Cylon War.

There hadn't been all that many new Viper Mk. VII's to replace and update the squadrons aboard the three Columbia class Battlestars in the expeditionary fleet. So the Admiralty had, in all its wisdom gifted them with full compliments of Viper Mk. III's that had been dug out of a warehouse of Picon. Their logic was that the _Galactica_ and her newer sister ships were originally designed with these types of Vipers in mind and that they were cheaper than and just as deadly as the newer Vipers. Also it meant that the formation had a single type of fighter to keep up with so that the knuckle draggers and grease monkeys didn't have to sort out parts from Vipers spanning the Mk. II generation and the Mk. VII generation and all the models in between. It allowed them to be standardized.

"Come on! Come on!" Kelsey yelled as she tried strapping herself in as her helmet was tightly sealed around the collar on her neck to get a proper seal from zero atmosphere conditions.

She got a pat on the head, signaling that she was good to go and had her Viper's canopy slide back and lock into place and powered her plane's systems up and started warming up the engines for start-up. Her Viper was on the second tier of hot stacks that allowed the _Galactica_ to hold her new compliment of six hundred Vipers in both pods along with her other new Raptors. She felt the craft shudder as the stacks began rotating and saw that a gang of deck crew were waiting to have her Viper right up against the tube, ready for the Viper in it to be launched and then be shoved in and launched.

She could hear the slight vibrations of the _Galactica_ launching dozens of Vipers all at once as her own bird was pulled up to the hatch and saw the Viper in front get tossed down the tube. By now she was brimming with excitement as the hatch opened up again and she and her Viper were pushed forward into the tube and then the automatic catapult latched on and she did a final lightning fast systems check and started her engines.

"Lightbulb, you have a green light to launch," the flight controller informed her over the radio.

"Copy that green for launch," she replied, giving a thumbs up as she then pushed back against her seat and waited.

She didn't need to wait long as the Viper was rapidly propelled down the tube as the second catapult passed her on the way back. The flashing lights going right by her head was exhilarating and the black inky spot of space became ever larger as she finally exited the ship and thrust herself forward and began to climb to join the six hundred Vipers from _Galactica_, Helios, and Cerberus. A few Marine Vipers camouflaged green, brown, and black showed up as well from the _Ravager_ in their own unique formation below the fleet of military and civilian ships. Raptors streamed from the hangers of the ships as they too joined the massive formations. Guns and gun crews were up and running throughout the fleet as fire and control DRADIS systems lit up the space around the fleet.

Soon the formations had checked in, and overseeing all of this was none other than Commander Adama. Next to him was Colonel Saul Tigh, holding a stop watch as the two officers watched their crew and the fleet react to their sudden call to battlestations.

"Sir, all batteries report ready," Gaeta reported.

Tigh clicked the stop watch, looked down at it and showed it to Adama, "Not bad, they still need some more work, but not bad."

"Still too slow, those guns need to be manned and operational within two minutes of contact."

"Yeah, but they've managed to shave off twenty seconds from their last drill," Tigh said.

"Where are my pilots?" Adama said, "If this were real we'd have hostile forces picking off those civilians like ducks in a barrel."

"Alert squadrons are in the air, but they're still trying to get organized with the other squadrons from the fleet…Sir, reserve squadrons are in the tubes, awaiting orders," Dee called out.

"Too slow, too slow…" Adama grumbled, not too happy with the performance being exhibited by his crew.

He watched the DRADIS screen as the numerous squadrons from all the ships in the fleet began to show up in their proper formations. It was way too slow for his taste, back in the war this type of slow moving would have gotten a ship destroyed if the gunners hadn't been vigilant.

"Those frakking civilians got into formation better than our Vipers did, this is unacceptable," Tigh said.

"Sir, all squadrons reporting in ready."

"Time?" Adama demanded.

"Six minutes, two seconds."

"For frak's sakes," Adama grumbled, taking off his glasses, then grabbed the head set to talk to the Vipers in the fleet, "Dee put me on to every Viper and Raptor we have out there."

"Yes sir," she replied, "You're on sir."

"This is the Commander, if this were a real attack half of you would be dead and the other half would be watching hostile forces tear apart your ships as you ran for your lives. That's not good enough! We're out here in the middle of uncharted space, who knows what might be out there. We have to be on our toes at all time, ready for anything that comes our way," Adama growled, "That is all."

"You want to run the simulation attacks now Bill?" Tigh asked.

"Do it, let's see if our gunners can hit anything," he stated.

"All guns, switch to simulation fire control, all batteries secure from Condition One stow ammo," the speakers sounded out.

"Sir," a young Marine Major saluted Commander Adama.

"Major Hayefield, how did my Marines respond to the alert?" Adama asked as he watched the Viper squadrons peel away from the formation of ships to take their positions to make runs at the fleet so the gunners could dial in and practice firing simulation rounds at the Vipers as they tried to make it through the thick screen of practice flak.

"We were in position within two minutes," he responded, "Thankfully, we had been running some mock boarding actions with the _Ravager_, so we had no trouble with handing out weapons and equipment."

"Good, next time we have an alert I want your Marines to have been mostly off duty, I want to see how they react in all circumstances."

"Yes sir."

"Good man that Hayefield," Tigh grumbled as the major left, escorted by a pair of Marine NCO's.

"For a political appointee he is," Adama said, "He's fresh from the Academy on Tauron. And drills his troops like he were a drill sergeant."

"Aren't they the worst?" Tigh chuckled.

The two of them watched as the Vipers swarmed around the fleet, probing and a prodding with small little pushes that were designed to test for weaknesses within the flak screen of the Colonial ships. It seemed to be completely chaos out there as the squadrons milled about like they were wolves. But he knew that it was a good tactic, feign confusion but keep in control and wait for the opportunity to strike. He smiled as he watched three squadrons from the _Cerberus_ make a run at _Helios_ while _Galactica_'s squadrons took another more discreet approach between the cruiser _Guardian_ and the Destroyer _Dash _right below the Helios' engines where the Vipers knew that the guns would have a hard time zeroing in on them. He watched as numerous signatures blinked to yellow, indicating a simulated kill. But then he watched as the rest of the Vipers made a complete run right at the whole that opened up as several of _Galactica_'s squadrons made it through and the two escorts turned to bring more guns to bear and opened up a hole in their defenses that allowed the other Vipers and Raptors to make a good run at the _Guardian_ and swarmed it, hitting it with practice lasers mounted in the noses of the Mk. III's that told the ship when it had been hit. The Vipers quickly knocked the _Guardian_ out of the fight with heavy losses, opening up an even bigger hole for the Viper squadrons of the escort ships to plow on through and did massive damage to the civilian ships before a trio of destroyers chased them down and lured them into a crossfire with three other cruisers, ending the exercise.

"If only they could get out of the tubes and organized as well as they fight," Tigh stated as the controllers on the ships directed the Vipers and Raptors to return home.

"They'd better, because there's danger out there, and the thing is, it's not just the Cylons."

**And done, that's one more for you guys, hope you enjoyed reading it. And I guess that I ought to have another poll, this one isn't a traditional poll, but I would like some name ideas for some of the ships. So if you have ideas for the ships for the nations of France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Brazil, Spain, and Poland, I'm open for suggestions. Because soon the Taur'i fleet will grow substantially and I'll need names.**

**In case some of you need a guide for ship classes here you are.**

**BC-304 "**_**Daedalus**_**" Class Battlecruiser **

**BB-305 "**_**Alaska**_**" Class Battleship **

**CV-307 "**_**Halsey**_**" Class Aircraft Carrier **

**BCV-308 "_Enterprise_" Class Battle Carrier (USA only so far.)**

**Also, the Viper Mark III's are what you see in Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome. They're a little bit more rounded than a Mark II, and more streamlined, but still retains the looks of the Mark II. But it is still a very sexy fighter.**

**As usual, leave any responses to that in review form, and let me know what you thought of the chapter.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Earth goes on display for the Colonials, but is all what it seems to be? Meanwhile, the Cylons wait and watch.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Another one for ya'll to read, sorry about the long wait, but it's a tough chapter to write. I've been getting a lot of communication from you guys asking about the progress and if you could help. I appreciate the support but sometimes folks you need to just back off a little bit and let things happen, whenever I am talking to you I am not writing the story. So let me write it and it'll get updated.**

**Just a disclaimer, I do not own any of the movies, franchises, TV shows, or anything I refer to in the later part of the chapter **

Chapter 13

Date: July 24, 2014

Time: 2135 Lima 

The Colony

The mood aboard the Cylons' home base, the Colony, was tense, things had not been going well since they'd had their unfortunate run-in with Earth's own military forces and had been obliterated without even inflicting a bit of damage. The Ones were up in arms about striking the Colonies instantly, but the more logical Fours and Threes were more level headed, deciding to wait and watch. The Eights had been split on the issue. And were tearing one another apart within their own circle. The individual Basestar strike groups that had been ready for the imminent attack had been recalled to the Colony along with the many Resurrection Ships that had been painstakingly placed for the upcoming attack. Now, hundreds of Basestars were surrounding the Colony, practically cloaking it in moving gray metal while the Cylons deliberated on their predicament.

"The Colonials will doubtless strike at us, they would be fools not to do so," Cavil grumbled.

"Why do you say so? The Colonial Fleet had mobilized after Earth's forces had engaged us and were deployed around their homeworlds for defense," a Two, Leoben stated.

"So what? We all know what the Colonials' plan of action is if we go to war again," an Eight replied.

"They go on the offensive," Cavil said, "They will invade our territory and bring the fight to us so they can keep our attention away from their colonies before we could do the same to them."

"They have no idea that we're even here, it doesn't matter if they invade."

"But if Earth is with them…" a Four said out loud, letting the silence that followed speak for him.

The Cylons were deathly afraid of the Earth ships, especially after what they had seen them do. But what frightened them even more was what they hadn't seen. Because it was the unknown that was most dangerous.

"Which brings us to the most pressing matter, Earth, what to do about Earth," Cavil grumbled.

"It is obvious Earth is highly advanced, more advanced than anything we have," a Six named Natalie stated, "Our telemetry from the battle showed that they utilized some kind of energy field that blocked our missiles, nukes, and Raider attacks. Then their own weapons were energy based, using what we believe to have been superheated plasma."

"That's impossible, plasma by its very nature doesn't conform, it spreads and cools. It would take some kind of electromagnetic field to shape and conform it for it to be a viable weapon," a Four stated loudly.

"Well we also thought Earth's existence to be completely impossible, after all, we thought that Earth had destroyed itself when the Final Five arrived," Cavil grunted.

"What are you saying Cavil, that these people aren't from Earth, or that the Final Five were wrong?"

"I'm not saying anything right now, but I currently believe that we have a need for more information."

"In the meantime, we must reevaluate our Basestars to counter any future contact with Earth's warships, we have a design that was scrapped in favor of the current model we employ," an Eight said, placing her hand into the fluid by which all Cylons communicate.

"Ay yes, the triple four-spoked model. I remember it well."

The image that was currently being shown to them all on the wall adjacent to the meeting table the several dozen Cylons all sat at was currently showing the biggest model of Basestar ever put into development. Unlike the current Basestars, which used a Y-Configuation for its arms, this one used a perfect X-Configuration for its spokes. And unlike the other Basestars it had three tiers of them. From above it looked like an eight pointed star with missiles and guns pointed at you from all angles. There were a few other parts about this type of Basestar that made it unique among the Cylon Fleet. It had a very large armament consisting of quite a few point defense guns and several larger cannons mounted nearer the center of the vessel while the hundreds of missile launchers were mounted in the arms. It contained a massive compliment of two thousand Raiders each because of the sheer size of the thing. It was bigger in every respect than the current Basestars which adopted a quantity over quality mentality.

"Would it work? If the readouts we got from the reanimated Hybrids is right then they too will be ripped apart by the Earthers' weapons," Cavil pointed out.

"Not if we can match their defensive capability, these ships have double the armor thickness of the current model, and tripled the firepower. And it is also so big that it can take the punishment in stride without compromising the ship itself," the Eight said highlighting the armor plates and compared them to a readout of a current Basestar.

"And they can be retrofitted with our newest advances in technologies like those the Earthers used. We have developed a type of shielding but it has never been tested before so we have no idea what it will do. But it's a start."

"And we can steal anything else we need from the Colonials, should we find something of use."

"That will be difficult," a voice suddenly spoke up. In walked a figure the Cylons had long thought gone, embedded within the ranks of the Colonials. It was a Six, she'd been sent to the Picon Fleet HQ where she was to be able to take down the planet's isolated defense network that protected the Colonial Fleet's primary hub of command and control, but she was back.

"Samantha, what are you doing here?" an Eight sputtered, "I thought…"

"That I was embedded within Picon HQ? I was, until a group of Colonial MP's tried arresting me and we sort of…had a bit of a mix-up."

"What happened?" Cavil hissed, wanting a straight answer.

"I was shot after I tried to make a run for the hangar, the bullet hit the bone and I was then run the frak over by a truck!" she yelled, shivering at the memory of the massive vehicle cracking her ribs like toothpicks and being crushed to death.

"Were there others that were compromised?" Leoben asked intently.

"I don't know, but it can be assumed that the Colonials know now we have become human ourselves. We'll be able to know shortly, I know that I'm not the only one who won't let themselves be taken alive."

"Well this is just great, the Colonials have met with Earth, Earth is more deadly than them, and has allied with them. Add that to the fact our agents are compromised, the Colonials have disabled their networks, and we have a total clusterfrak!"

"How do you know the Colonials have disabled their networks?" a Four asked.

"Because there were Vipers in the attack on our fleet, they were completely unaffected by our virus, so it can be assumed that the rest of Colonial Fleet has followed suit."

"Frak…"

The Cylons settled into a deep silence as they contemplated their options. They didn't have many, but they had little choice, something had to be done. Attacking was now a fool's gambit, Earth's forces would wipe them out, then the vengeful Colonials would sweep them away and cast them away like dust in the wind. But then Cavil came up with an idea.

"What about Earth?" Cavil asked, "If we could take Earth out of the equation what then?"

"We'd be left with just the Colonials, albeit stronger and more alert than ever, but just the Colonials."

"And if we got our hands on Earth's technology, what then?" Cavil continued.

"We'd be unstoppable…"

"Good plan, but you're forgetting something, how do we do that?"

"We find Kobol, and then find Earth."

"The Colonials just sent an expedition to find Earth, I vote we send a task force to follow and then destroy it upon arrival at Kobol," a Three said.

"The Colonial fleet is large, it's made up of three _Columbia_ type Battlestars, four cruisers, ten destroyers, five support vessels and a fully loaded Marinestar filled with Tauron Marines from their elite 304th Mechanized Regiment. The civilian fleet is equally massive, seventy ships ranging from tankers, mining ships, surveying ships, deep space telemetry vessels, landing ships, cargo ships, and transports of the highest quality, all lead by one Battlestar…"

"Let me guess, the _Galactica_?" Cavil snorted.

"Correct, if it is vengeance you want, and if you feel you want that pretty little Adama girl again you have your chance, she is also aboard the _Galactica_ along with the two Colonial Viper pilots who fought us alongside Earth's fighters."

"So they can give us an idea of what the Earth ships are like, along with some military intelligence on current Colonial deployments," an Eight added.

"If we can get them alive," one of the other Cylons said, keeping a more logical thought train on the idea.

"So I suppose we're agreed on having a task force trailing the Colonials and then launching an attack when the opportunity presents itself?" Cavil asked receiving nods, "Good, now we all realize that not only do the Colonials have Earth on their side, but they are hosting them as honored guests. But the manner in which they are doing this is what is more concerning for us. It turns out the Ring of the Lords is a gateway between Earth and the Colonies. Which gives the Colonials an enormous advantage."

"What do we do about it?"

"We wait and watch."

Terra Nova Command

"Things are finally getting back on schedule Colonel," Major Francisco reported, handing over a tablet to her as she stood in the newly finished and furbished command center of Terra Nova Command.

"Looks like it," Carter said, looking at the readouts on the progress of the latest construction projects that had developed as part of the new priorities that she'd ordered.

The problem that Terra Nova had been dealing with was not enough Matter Synthesizers for a schedule that needed twice as many as the engineers had. So Carter ordered that eighteen of the twenty-five synthesizers that the engineers had and focused all of them on a single goal, building the matter synthesizers' new production facility so that they were able to immediately begin producing more of them. That way they could pick up the slack and then they began work on the other facilities that needed work. A bunch of new research labs on the upper levels had been completed, a dozen large barracks were completed in the mid-levels, the two F-302B Factories had come online, and were waiting for the warehouses to be built. A few blank slate factories that had the ability to be purposed for anything from weapons, to armor, to small equipment items, and ammunition were also under construction, but the power requirements of the base above them was becoming an issue. There were a dozen large power stations being assembled in the deepest levels of the base in three groupings of four Mk. V Naquada Generators each. These types of generators weren't the small portable ones that had normally been deployed, these were massive for the SGC, each was the size of a mini-van capable of powering Las Vegas and the suburbs around it. But they needed to be, as the individual factories needed the power generated for full operation.

But this was simply the primary wing of the base that was coming around to being complete. There were several other smaller complexes that linked to one another via tunnels that were designed to be used by trucks, Humvees, and even automated monorail trains for the more major facilities. These facilities were connected at all levels with the groupings of shipyards embedded into the mountain range above and around them as well as to other planned research labs and outposts on the surface. Whenever they had to go up there were spiral roads that were much like what were used in parking garages back on Earth. These other installations were also self-sufficient, capable of being cut off from the outside world for quite a while, and were attached to each of the shipyards, which themselves were going through their final tests before being designated for what they were needed. But five of them were already at work, but what was shaping up in each of the spots was not a whole ship.

What was being built was the Earth Fleet's flagship, the _Enterprise_. The vessel was to be built in sections, and then assembled together in orbit. Her compliment of brand new F-302B Banshees were already under production and being stored in the hangars that had access to a cleared plateau for testing and then being shuttled up to the massive vessel once it was completed. But at the moment the skeletal frame was currently the only showing the sheer magnitude of what they were building.

"So what do you, if you don't mind me asking, think about the base thus far? With these improvements we have quite a stronghold out here," Francisco asked.

"I'm thinking that it's a little out of the league of a Colonel to be honest with you. But I can get used to this place, the weather's fine, and for once day to day operations are relatively quiet matters of paperwork and directing engineer teams to new tasks and clearing new projects. But I would feel better with some more protection, all this infrastructure makes me feel vulnerable."

"My thoughts as well, the few squadrons we have right now, coupled with the fact we have no ships I orbit anymore makes me feel the same. Makes me wish we had some orbital defense capability, like the Ancients did with their satellite network."

Carter nodded, then her mind went into calculation mode, "Satellites? Wait a minute," she said, taking the tablet and scrolled through the list of research projects that had been coming into her by the stack from the gathering numbers of scientists and engineers.

"Ma'am?"

"Here, see this," she pointed at a diagram of what appeared to be a large satellite with a three pronged design with a central axis going down the bottom with what also appeared to be large cannons on the ends and smaller batteries of rail guns and missiles on a circular ring around the main prongs, "It's a potential design for the biggest problem we have right now, a Battle Satellite mounting plasma cannons, rail guns and missiles."

"Whoa, a few of those and we'd be set up against any attack."

"And even better, if we can build enough Earth can have the defense network we've needed for years. We'll be able to finally leave Earth with a minimal number of orbital vessels and not worry about a sneak attack."

"Whose idea was this?" Francisco asked.

Carter scrolled down, and saw a name she was not wanting to see, "Doctor Felger…"

"Shit, that's just great."

"Of all the people that could have come up with this idea, it had to be Felger," Carter groaned, and then opened an email, "But it is his project, I'm willing to give him a chance to see this through."

"Very well ma'am," Major Francisco grumbled.

Carter finished typing in the order for Felger to report to her office in two hours with all the data and work he had on the Mk. I Battle Satellite and turned back to her new command center. The entire room was as very large, being a massive rectangle twenty yards by thirty yards in its dimensions with several work stations where the numerous command and control functions of the base were managed and where every aspect of the base's personnel numbers, atmospheric conditions, radar readouts, the state of the factories, shipyards, and even where every vehicle on their list was supposed to be were seen and managed from this very room. A few large glass screens were able to have any number of functions like combat control of the base's units and turret defenses which were planned to come online shortly. But the focus of the room was a large plotting table that had a special ability to project holographic representations of anything that Carter wanted. It also had a large briefing room attached to it where outgoing and incoming SG Teams were to report when the Stargate Command facility was fully operational. They'd built another one of their own DHD's so that any attempts at dialing out were instantly catalogued and only allowed to be made by authorized personnel. A large room underneath the main gate room was bringing in MALPs and vehicles. Even above the gate room there was an armory that could lower a missile mounting for launching Tomahawk, Sparrow, or even nuclear missiles.

"Colonel," a civilian called out, walking into the command bunker, "I would like a moment to talk with you," he said.

"Mr. Yamaguchi," Carter grumbled hardly acknowledging the IOA representative.

"Am I interrupting something I do not mean to intrude," the man said, really genuinely trying to be polite.

"Not at the moment, you need something?" Carter asked.

"Yes may we speak in private, if you do not mind."

"Of course, follow me," Carter grumbled moving towards her office.

Mr. Yamaguchi was Japanese, the head of the IOA mission on Terra Nova and in charge of everything civilian that was and would be taking place on the planet. He spoke with hardly any difficulty in English, which made him one of the easier foreign members of the IOA to deal with, also, he was a man of honor and respect for the military, having been a Captain in the Japanese Maritime Defense Force himself. He walked and talked like a soldier too, but he had also mastered the fine art of politicking.

Carter walked to her door, a normal aluminum one with a wire and glass window to see into that had a set of blinds on it whenever she wanted privacy. Her own office was a lot better than she had thought she would have. It was large, with an actual carpeted floor. The place had a screen behind her that served as a window but only worked like a way for her to see what a camera was seeing. Apparently the designers had been smart, realizing that some people will not react very well if they spent an extended period of time underground so efforts were made to make the base seem as normal and not underground as possible. At the current moment Carter had her "window" view set to a camera that had a view of the mountainous highlands with a waterfall in the near distance splashing down into a tree surrounded lake that glistened with pristine turquoise water. The green trees and grasses spread out in all directions as they coated the rough landscape. She was glad that she couldn't see the base or shipyards from this distance so her view wasn't ruined. And at night the view as so good that she would just simply sit in her nice leather chair and stare out at it. Of course there other options to choose from. There was a view of the base just at the base of the mountain, a view of a pristine beach on the southern end of the island, and other forest views from above and within the trees.

"Take a seat Mr. Yamaguchi," Carter offered, extending a hand to one of the two seats in front of her wooden desk, "What is it you want to talk to me about?"

"I have been asked to express great disappointment with the recent lack of progress on the IOA Compound and the redistribution of engineers and construction priorities away from civilian projects and the outlying research stations," he relayed.

"Well, my orders have specified that the military capabilities of this base are the main priorities and are to be constructed first and foremost. We have a great many crews back on Earth that need the ships and planes we'll be pumping out of these factories."

"And there are six billion people on Earth that will need the advancements in technologies, medicines, and research that will be coming from this facility. The military cannot simply shove the civilian priorities to the back just because they are civilian projects. I understand where you are coming from Colonel, believe me," the man said, his accent hardly showing at all.

"Well for now we need to focus on getting the infrastructure of the base built first, once that is done I'll see what I can do about getting you a few teams to make a little bit of progress on the outdoor aspect of the base."

"Thank you, and I have also been told to ask if accommodations are being made for the arrival of an additional garrison of troops and engineers from China and Russia, the IOA has expressed concern that the Americans are trying to keep Terra Nova to themselves."

"When was this decided?" Carter demanded, wanting to know how this was cleared.

"Just recently, but the actual personnel won't be arriving for quite a while," Yamaguchi responded.

"Well, I'll have to talk to my own superiors about this, this is something I want to hear for myself."

"Understandable."

"Was that all you came to see me about?" Carter asked.

"No, unfortunately," he said back, "I have been tasked with giving this to your design engineers."

He handed over a folder with a large amount of blue paper in it, which meant that it would have to be a design of some kind, and an important one If he were giving it to her first. She looked at him curiously as she opened it and took out the first thing that she saw, which was a classified blueprint that read: "_Pioneer_ Class Mobile Colony."

The blueprint showed what was essentially a large Earth-built version of Atlantis. It was three miles in diameters arranged in rings instead of the spokes of the Ancients' City Ships. There were three rings all connected by eight spokes that had what appeared to be roads in them for cars and vehicles to ascend and descend in height. Each ring went further in height by about a hundred feet until it reached the main control tower that was a perfectly symmetrical octagon with four other smaller towers around it. And all around this primary area was a massive city of skyscrapers varying wildly in size and shape with roads and a central highway in the middle of each ring that would have provided excellent mobility for people going to and from where ever it was they needed or wanted to be. Two parts of the second and third rings were flat for landing and launching vessels the size of Battleships. It was powered by a three generator rooms that hadn't given specifics as to what means they used to generate power. But Carter stopped herself from reading and analyzing further, because she had no orders from her superiors to build this or the facilities.

"What is this?" Carter demanded, showing him the blueprint.

"It's the IOA's direct orders for the Terra Nova Shipyards to start building our colonies," Yamaguchi responded.

"Excuse me, direct orders?" Carter quoted, very much pissed at this gross misstep by the IOA.

"Yes, according to the IOA disclosure is fast approaching, and estimates that many people will want to venture into the stars and start colonizing different planets and they want to be ready to accommodate this. So, the IOA Board has necessitated a build-up of these City Ships, or as they are more officially known, Mobile Colonies. The orders I have are to relay a quota of eight _Pioneer_ Colonies by year's end."

"You do realize that, as interesting as this concept is and as good an idea it is, I have no orders from my direct superiors to put off military building projects to necessitate orders from a body I do not directly take orders from," Carter said, "I'm sorry, until you can get General O'Neill or the Joint Chiefs to order me to build these things then I'll do it and enjoy doing it, but until then, I have to say no, my orders are clear."

"That's what I told the IOA you would say Colonel, and it seems I was right, not that I'm surprised or disappointed. Just not looking forward to relaying to the IOA what you responded with."

"Mr. Yamaguchi why on Earth does the IOA think it can come in here and tell me to put off the orders I have from my superiors to accommodate an order that they have no legal authority to make?"

"If I knew I would tell, you Colonel. But…I think that there are some of those among the IOA who believe that the military has been corrupted by the power the SGC and Fleet gives them and that civilian authority should have complete control at all levels except at a tactical level in the field."

"You think you can title that piece of information 'Stuff I Already Know'?" Carter said back testily.

"I see that the IOA has not been too discreet in its attempts at gaining control," Yamaguchi grumbled sadly, "It seems that, they are drawn to the power Homeworld Defense can wield, and will do anything they can to take it for themselves. We've lost our way in the IOA Colonel. We started out with a just and honorable goal, conduct proper oversight of the Stargate Program for the safety of Earth. But now, it's turned into a crusade of greed and power."

"You don't say," she grumbled, handing him back the folder.

"But you didn't hear it from me," Yamaguchi winked, "There are still those of us that have stayed true to our purpose. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some scientists to meet about a plant that can cure Hepatitis."

"Alright then, thank you for bringing this design to my attention," Carter said, standing up, and for bringing that other matter to my attention," she slyly said as they went back into the Command Center.

Caprica City Opera House, Site of the Earth Cultural Presentation

The house was jam packed this time around, with members of Colonial society from all twelve Colonies present in droves as they waited for their chance to see what it was Earth had to offer in the realm of culture, sport, entertainment, and other items that had been speculated like food or drink. But no one really knew for sure if that would happen that night as they entered the entry way and saw that there were signs directing them in specific directions where the Earthers had set up a few tables with freshly printed, Earth Style, brochures. Many of the Colonials were rather bothered at the way the corners on the large brochures were not cut off to form their traditional octagonal papers. But the brochure seemed to be professionally made with green and blue patterns on the edges and corners as well as a few pictures of screenshots cleverly faded into the background to show the Colonials what they would be seeing.

There would be video exhibits made using projector screens mounted in the back of the individual theaters within the opera house, apparently a few food items from Earth would be on plates passed out by Colonial staff who worked at the opera house, and there was a set schedule for the night's showings so people could plan in advance what it was they would have preferred to see. There would be sports videos from Earth's most popular sports: Football, Soccer(Footballl if you're European), Baseball, Hockey, Basketball, Rugby, Golf, NASCAR, Formula 1 Racing, Horse Racing, and a few others. There would be a selection of music being played throughout the night, with more classical music composed by Earth's most famous composers playing in the formal parts of the grand building, and other brands like rock'n roll, jazz, country, and even a few clean raps in the numerous music videos that were playing throughout the building on the massive thirty foot projector screens. A few clips on Earth's history were going to be shown, such as a clip on World War Two and the battle to defeat tyranny it was, a clip of Earth's first steps into the stars, like _Sputnik, Apollo 11, Prometheus_, and finally an animated clip of the planned flagship of Earth's Fleet, the _Enterprise_ were to be shown. The military hadn't been too pleased when the IOA wanted to use the Enterprise to awe the Colonials, especially considering the fact they had a rough idea of what the Earth ships were capable of and if they saw the Enterprise then they'd go nuts with paranoia. But they'd also made sure to keep their fights with aliens out of the presentations, the Colonials weren't ready to learn that quite yet. But they did have a few science fiction clips to show them from some of the most popular names in the business, Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and many others, even a rather intriguing music video from Red vs Blue had made it into the showings. Other movies were to be previewed with some clips chosen to convey a sense of culture, great classics from the days of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, to the modern masterpieces of Hollywood and other international studios and their big names. There was even a place for the children of people attending to send them to watch a collection of Earth children's movies and cartoons like Scooby Doo, Pokemon, and several choice selections from Disney's Masterpiece Collection. A bunch of popcorn stands with flavors such kettle corn and classic buttered were there just for the kids to watch these movies and cartoons under heavy guard. These guards were, under President Adar's own orders, his own protection detail. This was a publicity move of course, what would look better than the President putting the lives of his people's children before his own in the eyes of his people and most importantly Earth.

However there was one place that the famous Pyramid star Samuel Anders wanted to see, he was interested in Earth's sports. He had heard earlier that Earth didn't play Pyramid, and that had garnered his interest instantly. So here he was with a bunch of his team mates and other Pyramid players from other teams who now sat in seats waiting for the presentations to begin so he could see for himself what these sports like football, soccer, and baseball were all about.

"What do you think these sports will be like Sam?" Devin, one of his team mates asked as he read through the order in which the videos would be playing.

"Oh I don't know, the names of these sports probably have something to do with the way they're played," he answered.

"Yeah if that's the case, this sport here, football, will be a pansy sport. And this sport baseball, will be the most physical, mark my words," one of his other team mates said arrogantly.

"Well, let's see, it's starting."

They all shut their mouths as the first sport to be shown, American Football, came onto the screen. **(This is taken from a Youtube Video I found called "NFL Hard Hits Brutal Revolution". Watch it in another window to visualize what the Colonials are seeing.) **The video started with a type of music the Colonial athletes would have recognized as a type of music they would use as they would come out of the tunnel at their home stadiums, and they saw Earthers doing the same thing. But these ones were garbed head to toe in what appeared to be heavy armored pads with their uniforms over them in all manner of colors and patterns. Their helmets looked to be more heavily padded than anything the military used, with shiny hard shelled outer payer with a set of bars all color coordinated to protect their faces. Some wore black face paint as they came roaring and screaming, pounding their chests in what appeared to be a type of pregame show of intimidation. And they all looked as if they dwarfed what your normal Pyramid player in size and strength. And as these massive men scrolled across the screen a man's voice spoke.

"Ya'll better get ready to roll man, it's about to get violent, so put the kids to bed."

Anders leaned forward to watch more intently to see this violence himself. They had reason to wear that much padding, and he was about to see why. Every single Colonial audibly gasped as they saw the first of dozens of what would appear to be bone-crushing, lethal hits, tackles, and falls as these Earthers pulverized each other in a vicious and a brutal sport. The helmets and pads didn't seem to work all that well because Anders swore he saw a man bleeding from his eye, another bleeding from his mouth and forehead as he continued to play, and another with a gash in his forehead as play continued. Helmets were sent flying as these Earthers busted one another in a brutal series of clips to an ever increasingly intense song.

"My Gods, what kind of barbarians are these people?" someone in front of Anders gasped as she fought the urge to gasp and scream in concern for the well-being of the victims of the competitive violence being played out in front of all of them.

"It's a sport, not a fight ring," Anders cleverly whispered as he saw a man being tossed into the air by two consecutive blows from opposing players.

"Pansy sport huh?" another Pyramid player nudged the man who Anders was talking to earlier.

"This isn't a sport, it's madness! Is this what the Earth's people love to see?" the guilty player snapped back.

"I do," Anders said grinning as he saw a man in black and gold take a brutal blindside that knocked him off his feet entirely and sent the brown ball flying into the air.

And so it continued for another few minutes, until they reached the end of the massively violent music video that had basically set the tone that Earth sports were violent and competitive. There was another sport of a grouping of highlights that showed untold athleticism from catches and spins and runs taking the ball where ever those player damned well pleased, despite the threat of the opposing team knocking the snot out of them as they had seen earlier.

But the next video was of a more subdued and refined sport that the Earthers called Golf. It showcased unbelievable precision and accuracy with a little white ball that was shot, rolled, and bounced from sand and grass into little holes in the ground and into large patches of beautifully trimmed pasture and sand pits. This calmed things down again for the Colonials as other sports were showcased like Baseball, a few motor racing sports, horse racing, other amazingly athletic sports like basketball, baseball, rugby (What the Colonials were able to gather was a more down to earth derivative of football), and soccer. And after all of that was done Anders and the other Colonials could think of only a few things, and they all could be summed up with one word: "wow."

But elsewhere the Colonials were impressed with the cinematography displayed by the Science Fiction displays showing outstandingly creative clips from Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, and many others. This was where the primary focus of a certain Doctor Gaius Baltar was, he was alone this night, his lovely date had said she would be leaving for a while for Aerilon on business and then seemingly disappeared. But this was really none of his concern, but still nagged at him. But the items he was watching were keeping his mind busy. The show was starting to come to an end as a new video showing a similar to the one the Earthers called Halo, but this time it was called Red vs Blue, perhaps a branch off of the other thing? Baltar thought to himself.

But this one **(A Youtube video called "Red vs Blue We Own It Fast and Furious") **was far more impressive for the fact that the fighting ability of these armored soldiers was anything but ordinary. They moved and killed swiftly and expertly, utilizing weapons that were to be expected in a science fiction show. But there was something off about it. The level of technology was roughly that of the Colonies except for a few exceptions but the weaponry was roughly identical to the stuff the military currently utilized. He watched this with grim fascination and admiration for the expertly well done fight scenes and the rather interesting style of music that seemed to suit the montage fairly well. There were people in the crowd, especially the teenage sons of some of the people attending who really seemed to be enjoying it as the video climaxed.

"Dr. Baltar," someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Hmm..." he said, without really turning around.

"Colonial Intelligence, I'd like to speak to you sir after the showing has ended," the man coarsely replied.

"What?" Baltar said spinning around to see a man in an all-black uniform with the rank of Colonel.

"Simply follow me, I'll explain everything," the man said.

Baltar sat back and turned his attention back to the screen to see a soldier in teal fighting another in a tan colored suit of armor and then saw the tan one get pummeled with a brutal kick that sent him skyward as if he were in zero gravity. And thus the video ended and a loud applause rang up and everyone began filing out of the room as Baltar felt the Colonel's hand on his shoulder.

"Now, let's talk."

He followed him out, taking a few precarious glances around at the numerous party guests who were chatting about what they had just seen, what they wanted to see next, and what they thought of all of it. But he had to follow the Intelligence man past a wall of guests and then down a relatively deserted side hall to a place where there was no one to hear the conversation that was going on.

"What is this all about?" Baltar demanded.

"Easy Doctor, I'm sure you have many questions, but if you'll let me tell you what it is I am offering you then you'll begin to understand. Now, my name is Colonel Galan Partisan, I'm the officer in charge of recruitment for a new branch of the military specifically organized for the purpose of safe guarding the Ring of the Lords, or the Stargate as the Earthers have deemed it."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Baltar asked.

"You're going to help us make it work Doctor," Colonel Partisan grinned, "We have an abandoned base out in deep space where we are moving the Ring for security. And when the Ring is sent there we would like you to go with it as our Head of Research and Development for the Ring Security and Exploration Command."

"You want me to make the Ring work? But how…" Baltar stammered but was cut off.

"Doctor, the Ring does more than connect the Colonies and Earth, it has the ability to connect the Colonies to an entire network of identical Rings and possibly planet to explore and colonize. Imagine, a highway of instantaneous travel that provides the Colonies with untold access to new resources and lands. And even Kobol. We have quite a bit of information on the Ring from an archaeological dig done twenty years ago that uncovered the Ring. But due to the sensitive nature of the Ring we couldn't risk it being let out into the eye of the general public. It is this information that can hold the key to being our key to the Ring. So, are you in?"

"Well…I suppose it is a better gig than deep space telemetry," Baltar grinned.

"Good, but you are still officially part of deep space telemetry, we have to keep up appearances you know."

Kobol, Lowlands outside the City of the Gods

The Stargate activated loudly, sending its vortex whooshing out to envelop hanging branches and vines that had fallen in front of the gate after many years of growth. The gate then sucked its deadly energy back into the event horizon and then settled for a moment, the pitter patter of rain coming down all around the wet forest echoed quietly as thunder rumbled out in the distance. Then the peaceful scene was disturbed by new arrivals coming through the gate. Numerous green clothed soldiers armed to the teeth with assault rifles, pistols, and LMG's burst through the gate, fanning out to secure a perimeter. Among them was SG-1 with Colonel Mitchell in the lead.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Kobol where it is currently a lovely forty-five degrees and pouring down ice cold rain," Mitchell sarcastically said as he walked down the worn down stone steps with the rest of SG-1 right behind him, "A lovely day to find an Ancient treasure Trove."

"It certainly doesn't feel like a lovely day," Vala griped as she shivered against the wet cold and blew into her hands to keep herself warm.

"Well, there really wasn't much in the way of weather forecasts in the Colonials' Sacred Scrolls in the section on Kobol," Daniel Jackson said out loud as he looked around, seeing nothing but wet forest.

"Whatever, SG's Five and Ten secure the gate and set up camp, SG-12 you're with us, check in every hour. Now, let's move out," Mitchell said walking off down what appeared to be a game trail worn into the forest floor.

"What sort of Ancients would settle on a wet and miserable place like this?" Vala said, grimacing how every step she took met with a wet squishing sound from the damp moss beneath her feet.

"Well, we don't exactly know where on the planet we've ended up, we could be in a secluded wet forest region, or…" Daniel trailed off as he looked off to the left to see what it was they would be dealing with.

"Or we could be in the middle of tall forested mountains where all the eye can see is more wet and cold forest and guess what, no sign of any Ancients!" Mitchell groaned as he saw the intimidating sight before him.

There stretching as far as they were able to see were mountains covered in mist and fog from the current rain and cold that had settled in on them. They themselves appeared to be in some kind of saddle ridge between two of the higher mountains. They'd at least had the highest ground around, but still no sign of any city or outpost or any sign of civilization at all.

"It appears as if this region does not contain the City of the Gods as the Colonials believe," Teal'c stated.

"Well, maybe this is some other place important to the Colonials, I mean the Stargate is back there right?" Daniel said flipping through a laminated copy of the Sacred Scrolls he'd been given by a member of the Gemenese Representatives as a gift when he was helping with the cultural exchange with the Colonials.

"Right, if this was a thriving civilization set up by the Ancients they would have kept the Stargate in an accessible place," Vala added.

"So this must be something important, or at least be near something important," Daniel said, flipping through the book he had already gone through and highlighted important quotes and passages.

"It probably isn't the place where their city is. That, according to this, was on a great plain of some kind."

"This, is not plains Daniel, these are mountains," Mitchell responded to that.

"I know that…hold on…" Daniel said, stopping and reading a passage he had highlighted, "I think that there may be something here. The Tomb of Athena."

"Tomb? Like where dead people go?"

"Right, it says here that one of the Lords of Kobol, Athena, distressed at seeing her people leave threw herself off a cliff and was buried in the mountains nearby. I'm paraphrasing of course but if what this passage says is true, then there might be something we can use in this Tomb."

"Well," Mitchell said, looking down the sheer drop that was in front of them, "I'd say we found a likely spot where one would throw themselves to their doom."

"But there are many mountains around here, it could be anywhere."

"Yep, looks like we're gonna need some longer range fields of view, we're gonna need a UAV to get a proper look around here," Mitchell said looking around with his binoculars.

"Colonel," one of the members of SG-12 ran up behind him.

"What is it Major?"

"Sir, we found something."

**And done, with a cliffhanger. I know cliffhangers suck but hey, gotta keep you interested right? Thanks for reading, I'll be trying to update more quickly than I have with but no promises.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Backtracking the path to the Tomb of Athena, and the Colonials find something they didn't expect.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Quick update huh? Well what can I say? You guys are awesome and deserve a reward for being so supportive of the story so far. I'm beginning to think up an idea that some of you will find to be quite an interesting idea. I'm working out the details of it but I'll have a finished plan by the time of my next update. It has to do with a contest on this crossover section. So stick around, and enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter 14**

Date: July 23, 2014

Time: 2200 Lima

Location: Deep Space, Kobol Expedition Fleet

To say that the missions for long range recon were finally interesting was an understatement. Especially now that the Kobol Expedition was now in deep space where all manner of things could be present for them to find everyone was chomping at the bit to be the first to make a discovery. This honor had now befallen someone who did not want to go out there and do that.

Starbuck and Apollo had been assigned to take a survey team from a small exploration vessel with Viper escort to examine a nearby star system that the deep space telescope carrying liner _Surveyor _had seen and determined with its advanced range finding telescope that the star system had a nearby set of four planets, one of which was in the habitable zone of the yellow star they orbited. The _Surveyor_'s crew were professionals at what they did, and wanted a closer look so obviously Commander Adama had wanted them to go out and see if there was any chance that it could be Kobol. Starbuck and Apollo personally doubted it, but that wasn't the issue. The issue was having an experienced officer that would drag the scientists away and report back to the fleet on schedule, so it was decided the stubborn as a rock Kara Thrace and the disciplined Lee Adama would be the ones to go.

But they would not be going alone. Another pair of Vipers from the Destroyer _Dacia_ was also present with a pair of rookies from that ship's squadron of fifty Vipers. One was Ensign Trevor "Axe" Scarborough, and the other was Ensign Devin "Scalpel" Pillar. At the urging of the Commander of the Marinestar _Ravager_ they'd also decided to bring a Raptor full of Marines should the need arise. Although for what reason they would need a fire team of Marines and the upgraded Raptors the Marinestar employed Lee could not figure out. And to support all of this a party of knuckle draggers from _Galactica_ had been selected for good behavior to get off the ship for a little while and enjoy a bit of a vacation. They had already boarded the ship with the necessary equipment to maintain the four Vipers and the single Marine Raptor.

"This had better be worth my time," Starbuck groaned as she flew gracefully into the cavernous rear landing bay where a half dozen small landing craft used to ferry passengers from ship to ship were strapped down and waiting to lift off.

"Well Starbuck think on the bright side, at least you get to get away on a ship designed for pleasure for a whole three days," Apollo chuckled as they waited for the ship's hangar to shut tight and then jump.

"Yeah, and get some of that real booze and food instead of the watered down stuff we've got on the Galactica," Starbuck said as she waited for the ship to jump.

"I'd better not catch you drunk on duty Lieutenant," a Sergeant Major that was in charge of the eight man Marine fire team growled from inside his Raptor that was in the back of the hanger so that it wouldn't get in the way of the Vipers if they needed to scramble out of the ship.

"You won't," Apollo said looking right at the Viper Starbuck was in.

Starbuck just chuckled as she decided in her head that she would ignore him anyway and find herself some good ambrosia and down a bottle by night's end. As she thought that out, a flashing yellow light started strobing on and off at the sealed hangar doors and they all heard on their speakers the voice of the Surveyor's captain speaking to them.

"Jumping in three…two…one," and with an all too familiar flash and a slightly dizzy and buzzing head the Viper pilots felt the ship make the jump. Instantly the hanger began opening and Starbuck popped up off of the deck to get airborne so that no new surprises made their presence known in a negative way. The other Vipers followed suit while the Raptor filled with marines stayed warmed up and ready.

"We've arrived, no DRADIS contacts except for the planet," the radio said, giving the pilots a little bit more relaxed feelings in their guts.

"Alright, fan out and secure the area. You all know the drill. Surveyor, get working on scanning the planet, and marines board the ship but stay alert," Apollo said as he flew out of the rear of the Surveyor right behind Starbuck with the two rookies behind him.

"Well Apollo, look at that, have you ever seen such a welcoming sight before in your life?" Starbuck chuckled, spinning around to point her Viper at the massive blue and green planet below them.

"Whoa," one of the rookies mumbled out loud over the radio.

"It looks habitable," the other said as the two Vipers just hovered near the _Surveyor_.

"It is," the radio crackled with an ecstatic voice, "Atmosphere made up of primarily oxygen and nitrogen, visuals of large amounts of plant life, and something I think you will want to see Captain," the scientist on the other end stated.

"Just give me the scoop doc," Apollo said as he scanned around, finally realizing that other things might be flying around.

"Captain, I'm seeing signs of habitation, I'll have to clean up the images but I am certain I'm looking at a habited city on the coast of that continent."

"A city? Are you certain?" Apollo asked, now really wanting to look at the images that the _Surveyor_ was looking at for himself.

"Quite certain."

"Alright Vipers, I'm heading in, Starbuck you're with me. Axe and Scalpel," Apollo called out, using the call signs of the other two pilots, "You're on CAP, once your fuel is at half head on in. By that time we'll have a relatively secured position."

"Copy Apollo," Axe responded.

Apollo saw the young pilot flip him a thumbs up from the cockpit of his own Viper and banked hard to get aboard the Surveyor. The ship in question itself was not small, being three hundred meters long. It was shaped much like a fish, but wider. It had two large sections on the rear of the ship that jutted above and below the ship where its four engines were mounted on the tips of the ends and connected with an open cavity for the engineering crew to manage the lower and upper engines. Tucked in between the pylons was the hanger that the Colonial Fleet personnel would be using as their entry and exit point for their stay as escort for the ship. The hull was a triangular prism looking bit that was widest in the middle where it bulged out. And underneath it all was a half sphere where the top tier telescope mounted with connections to the most sensitive computer equipment in the fleet to understand everything the telescope saw.

The two Viper pilots landed their birds and even before they had landed they could see that inside the hanger a small little garage type opening for the ship's own compliment of shuttle craft was open and ready to receive them. The hanger was shiny and new, like the ship, with four little cubby holes in the sides for bringing in and out the shuttles that were meant to ferry passengers to and from the vessel. The two Vipers expertly landed inside where they saw the Raptor painted in green black and brown camouflage sitting peacefully. It was fully loaded with ten Archer Air to Air missiles, twenty Punisher Air to Ground Rockets, two packs of Devil Salvo Fire Air to Air Missiles on the roof, and two thirty-millimeter cannons under the nose, a classic example of Marine logic, if it has firepower enough to bring down a building, add more. It was tough as is, but with the current firepower it could bring down a single destroyer if its weaponry connected with its target. Of course the marines had brought spare weaponry for the Raptor beforehand as well as the fleet pilots who had several payloads of their own weaponry tucked away, stowed perfectly by a gang of knuckle draggers from Galactica who had also come along to make sure their Vipers were able to keep fighting if worse came to worse. But, so far the knuckle draggers were just relaxing within view of the two Viper pilots who had landed and were waiting on the hanger doors to shut so they could exit their birds.

"Alright, perfect landing, and perfect seal," the voice of Cally, one of the Chief's newly promoted deck hands spoke as she signaled the pilots that all was well and opened the hatch to enter the hangar and inspect the two Vipers along with the gang of eight crewmen who were all dressed in their orange jump suits.

"Alright, get these birds' tanks brimmed and facing the right way for us to take off in a hurry petty officer," Lee ordered as he jumped off the wing of his Viper. He didn't have the normal step ladder so he would be scrambling around the old Mk. III like a kid on a jungle gym.

"Yes sir," Cally said, "Oh and Sergeant Major Hailstrom is waiting to escort you to the bridge sir," she reported pointing at the entrance where a pair of Marines were standing guard. Like the numerous Marines on Galactica these Marines wore all black and were identically armed and equipped.

"Very well," Apollo said, "Starbuck you're with me. Let's take a look at what these scientists have already found for ourselves."

"Yeah yeah," she said as she too hopped down to the smooth tiled surface of the hangar deck and followed him as she set her helmet down on a table just outside the door.

"Captain Adama," one of the bigger Marines stepped forward, "Sergeant Major Hailstrom, Colonial Marines."

"Sergeant," Adama acknowledged returning the salute.

"Sergeant Major, Captain, I call you by your rank I would appreciate it if you returned that courtesy sir," the man growled back.

"Very well, Sergeant Major, shall we get to wherever it is that these civies have been looking down at the planet?"

"Yes sir, follow me sir," the Marine growled turning and leading the way into the plush interior of the science/cruise vessel.

"These jarheads are wound a little tight aren't they?" Kara whispered in Lee's ear.

"Marines, what're you gonna do?" Lee responded, being careful not to let the irritable Marine NCO hear him.

It didn't take all that long for the party of two pilots and the single Marine to reach the information hub of the Surveyor where a dozen of the eighty men and women crew of the ship were busy going over the information they had started gathering from the planet's surface. The atmosphere was alive with excitement and giddy anticipation as they entered and the Marine stayed out and let the two officers inside.

"Ah Captain, here, here, over here," an old man wearing a gray uniform that had been outfitted to every civilian on the Kobol Expedition. The shoulders and collar bone area of the shirt had a different color on it, signifying his specialty. In the case of this particular scientist, it was gray for deep space telemetry. There were several colors being used to name a few: Gray for deep space telemetry, black for civilian security, red for medical personnel, orange for supply, blue for maintenance and engineering, green for geographical analysis, yellow for archaeologists, maroon for ship crew, teal for pilots, and purple for priests. The pants also had this same stripe but they were black on most of them, but they tended to be a little formal and uncomfortable so they wore their own personal clothes. Of course there were other types of uniforms that were more suited to day to life aboard ship, or there were utility uniforms that were mainly for planet-side duty and for engineers and some of the blue collar duties.

"What is it you have found Doctor?" Adama asked, wanting to see what it was these scientists had found.

"Well, the images are still fuzzy, and due to the fact it was on the night side of the planet we only have a topographical image. The sun is starting to rise on the city, if it is a city, which we believe it is…" the excited old man said.

"Doc, do you have confirmation?"

"We'll have the image cleared up quickly," one of the younger scientists stated as she looked at a view screen that was connected to a downwards pointed camera.

"Well let me see what you have so far," Starbuck said, going to the table where several photos the scientists had already taken. And it was very quickly that the blonde pilot found something very interesting, "Uh Apollo, you may want to see this."

Lee walked past the scientist to see the image for himself and whatever it was Starbuck was looking at, "What do you have?"

"See that, is that what I think it is?" she said, pointing at a grid of over forty slim rises that looked unnatural.

"It's a formation, and it's moving towards this place here," Apollo said, pointing at the image of what they all thought was a city.

"Ships? Out here?" Starbuck said, "Does this mean we've…"

"Only one way to find out," Apollo said, moving to exit, "Let's get the Marines."

Caprica, Caprica City, Presidential Estate

To say Richard Adar was tired was quite the understatement, thirteen days of constant diplomatic partying with some Earth diplomats and military personnel who were completely unpredictable was quite an exhausting affair. The Twelve Colonies had done magnificently to be as friendly and welcoming as possible to these Earthers and to their credit, the Earthers genuinely tried to return that courtesy. But there were a few problems with what the Colonials had learned. This problems were highlighted in a report from his staff, every intelligence organization in the Colonies, and from the military.

"They're hiding something," Adar said to his assembled Cabinet, "You've all read the reports, I want your opinions."

The first to speak was the highest ranking member of the Cabinet, his Secretary of State who handled all interplanetary relationships between the Colonies. It sounded like an easy job but it was quite sensitive at times due to some bad blood in the past between many of the worlds, "Well, As far as I can tell, Earth is not truly united. They're divided amongst themselves whether it be on different planets or on Earth itself. They're not united, and they are very hesitant to talk about it. And from the videos we saw on some of their history, there is a lot of bad blood between them."

"Well anyone can figure that out," Laura Roslin stated, "Although there is one thing that concerns me."

"And what would that be Laura?" Adar spoke, motioning for his Secretary of Education to continue.

"They have not told their general population about us."

"That's ridiculous," the Secretary of Commerce stated bluntly, practically spitting at the idea, "After all we saw, how could they have not had some kind of campaign to get their main culture icons together and put all of that together?"

"Because they weren't there," Laura said, "They claimed they wouldn't bring them for security reasons. But they had twelve days to see that security was no issue. They don't trust us, or their own people it seems to acknowledge our existence to their public."

"Which begs the question, what else do they hide from their public?" one of the other cabinet members mumbled.

This created a moment of silence among the politicians. And they all gradually began to come to several disturbing conclusions.

"Does their public even know of their past? Do they even know that they are out in the stars?"

"I don't know, but there is something else that worries me, and this is far more dangerous to both Earth and the Colonies' future relations," Adar said, getting the attention of his Cabinet, "The reports that we've gotten so far have said that they did not acknowledge religion at all, not a peep. Even to direct questions. Which means they were hiding what it is they do for religion."

"And risk offending the Quorum. Oh frak, if I were betting man I'd say that those Earthers were mainly monotheist," the Secretary of Defense stated plainly.

"And if the Quorum found out that to Earth the Lords were false idols…"

"They'd be outraged," Laura said, "And then they'd stir up resentment against Earth, thinking they were like the radicals we deal with here in the Colonies."

"Couple that with Earth's predictable refusal for reunification with us and we'll have warhawks fyling banners in the streets."

"And with Earth always being a step ahead, due to the fact they have a superior working knowledge of the Ring of the Lords and technologically superior ships, they'd know what was happening before we could calm the Quorum down and completely disappear. And because we haven't got a clue where Earth is or any way to contact them on our terms…they'd be lost forever."

The group thought on this for a moment, and then one of them realized something, it was the Secretary of the Treasury who first figured it out, "The Kobol Expedition, that's why the Fleet pushed so hard for it. They wanted to be able to find Earth and deal with it as a possible threat."

"And use anything they found on Kobol to do it!"

"The Fleet was planning since the beginning, they knew there was a possibility for war and they wanted to stay a step ahead!"

"No, there's another reason the military wanted to find Kobol and thus the route to Earth," Adar said, taking a deep breath. He pulled out a drawer on his desk that had a control panel for everything from calling for food and drink, to putting the entire military on full alert. He tapped a few buttons on the panel and dimmed the lights and brought down a TV screen and began playing a video that had been shown to him by a civilian whistleblower in Fleet Intelligence. It was the Viper gun cameras from the Earthers' battle against the Cylons.

"What are you showing us Richard?" Laura calmly asked as the 'Classified' screen rolled into view.

"Something that you must never speak of, when the Earthers first showed up the Cylons showed as well. Apparently some sympathizers aboard the Warstar Zeus orchestrated an abduction of the first Colonial to meet someone from Earth, a certain Lieutenant Kelsey Adama. Apparently, Earth had dispatched a Battlegroup of five vessels escorting their civilian delegation and saw the Raptor the kidnappers used to escape rendezvous with four Cylon Basestars and well…this happened."

The video started playing as the camera zoomed out to show it was in formation with larger predatory looking fighters that were most likely Earth fighters. But then it showed them in combat with Raiders of a configuration they'd never seen before. The Earth fighters were deadly but then the camera got a good look at what appeared to be a formation of Earth cruisers being struck by Cylon missiles. The missiles however were stopped cold by a bluish white bubble that glowed whenever something hit it. Then, the Earth formation lashed out with brilliant blue lances of light that cut through the strange looking Cylon warships with complete ease. The Viper then continued to maneuver and engage as it began dueling with more Raiders, not really getting a clean look at the Earth ships until the very end when it saw three of them practically vaporizing a Cylon ship.

"What…what are you saying? That Earth fought the Cylons, is fighting Cylons?" the Secretary of Agriculture demanded.

"I'm saying that Earth not only fought the Cylons, but it's how they did it. They used weapons that we've only thought possible in science fiction and fantasy. And according to the reports from the three personnel we had present there as liaisons, they use a defensive technology that can shrug off a dozen nuclear warheads."

"Wait, oh Gods, I think I see where you're going with this Richard," one of them said worriedly, "You're saying that the Fleet knew the possibility for war was real, and wanted to be able to take to the offensive and hit Earth and take this technology before we could reconsider!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, and from what the Admiralty that was at the Reception behaved like, they are not opposed to it, but the thing is, neither is Earth."

"What?! Why would Earth want to fight us? We just met and we've done nothing to agitate them to the point of outright hostility."

"From what we gathered from some of their officers Earth had just finished a two year war with a much more advanced adversary than itself, and before that they'd fought an eight year war against a similar enemy and won the day. Earth's military is cocky, and sees us as a group of potential fanatics to be dealt with at a time when diplomacy fails," Adar said.

"Wait, are you saying Earth has been fighting…aliens, for an entire decade?"

"Unless they are lying, but it might explain how they acquired this kind of advanced technology," Adar said.

"So what do we do? Do we keep all this from the Quorum and make sure to keep a tight lid on the religious fundamentalists?"

"That's the bad news, the Quorum have the reports on the Reception, but thankfully not the report on Earth's encounter with the Cylons. It's only a matter of time before they figure out that Earth doesn't believe in the Lords and will not yield its sovereignty," Adar said, "I'm afraid this meeting with Earth may backfire on us all if the Quorum pushes for what they usually do."

"War."

Stargate Command, Earth

"Well I'd say it went rather nicely? Wouldn't you say so General?" Senator Jackson said with a slight charm to his voice as he was followed by General O'Neill as the two of them were headed to the garage where the numerous IOA Delegates were getting ready to head to a private airport near Colorado Springs to return to Maryland to file their formal reports.

"Eh, it was alright," O'Neill lied, not wanting to give the Senator the satisfaction of knowing that he'd pulled off something O'Neill was certain would end in disaster.

"Oh come, come now General, the cultural exchange with the Colonials was a resounding success. We now have more information on them than we know what to do with," the man replied as he got into his personal Cadillac Escalade.

"Yeah but some of the information is a little bit worrying. The future will tell if we did the right thing doing all of this."

"And I believe the future will be hailing a diplomatic and cultural victory. As will my report, but, I will be sure to put your urging for caution on record, despite the way you opposed this process every step of the way. Good day General," the man said closing the heavy armored door and then was driven off.

"Yeah, the future will tell, so will the casualty lists," O'Neill grumbled to himself as he returned to the elevator to return to the SGC and get the latest reports from Landry and the latest new developments from Carter, who was actually scheduled to report in today from Terra Nova.

It took the usual ten minutes to get to the control room where Landry was doing his customary check-ins with the control room staff about any activity or scheduled check-ins from any offworld teams.

"Hey ya Hank, what's new in the galaxy, Carter checked in yet?" O'Neill asked as he entered the room without the knowledge of Landry.

"Jack, I thought you'd drop by," Landry acknowledged, shaking hands with his CO.

"You know me too well then," O'Neill stated.

"Yeah I do, Colonel Carter should be checking in any minute, we've got some news from the Jaffa as well, they've been kicking some serious ass with the Lucians after a trade deal went bust and the Lucians tried to pull off an ambush on the Daedalus as she returned from Atlantis. They sent six ships to try and capture her, not one made it out."

"That is the wrong ship to ambush," O'Neill chuckled, "Being the most experienced crew in the fleet and all."

"Yeah no kidding."

As they continued to talk the gate activated, and soon enough, they had an identity.

"Terra Nova sir," Walter said as the gate finished dialing and the authentication code came through and was confirmed, "ID confirmed, transmission coming through."

The two Generals turned to face the screen that they usually talked through and saw Colonel Carter's face. Behind her was what looked to be a window, but in actuality was just a screen linked to a camera.

"Colonel, how goes the building project?" General Landry asked immediately.

"It's beginning to surpass the schedule we have sir, the majority of the core infrastructure of the main facility is built and operating. All of the Construction Platforms are finished, they're just in need of power crew and the facilities to house them. We've got most of that done along with the transportation network. We're laying tracks now for the monorail trains we'll be using to ferry personnel and equipment."

"Is it true you Terra Novan have an indoor pool Carter?" O'Neill asked out of the blue.

This received a warm smile from Carter along with a chuckle, "Yes sir, we do."

O'Neill looked over at Landry, "We're the HQ, why don't we get a pool?"

"Well sir, the reason we have such luxurious comforts is because our garrison and civilian personnel are scheduled for two year deployments to Terra Nova. We need this large amount of recreational facilities to keep up morale," Carter responded.

"True."

"But sir, there's a situation developing here that I feel you should know," Carter stated, growing far more serious, "Mr. Yamaguchi, the IOA head here, has informed me of the imminent arrival of a joint Russian and Chinese garrison to reinforce Terra Nova, I was never told about this. Were you?"

"The Russians and Chinese are gathering additional troops and engineers along with a few teams of scientists, I wasn't told where," O'Neill said begrudgingly, "I guess I know where they want to send them now."

"Well will you allow it sir?" Carter asked, "I'm not exactly opposed to it, the Russians have begun to show they're trustworthy and they do a very good job of training their troops."

"I know from experience Carter," O'Neill cut her off.

"Oh yeah, the Cold War," she mumbled, remembering O'Neill's rather cryptic past with Black Ops against the Russians, "And the Chinese have the financial and logistic capability that could help speed things along. It's just the fact they decided they wanted to deploy them here."

"I'll admit, it's a little odd, and a bit pushy," O'Neill said, "But I'm treading on thin ice right now with the Chinese. With North Korea and all going on at the moment."

"North Korea's going through its period again?" Carter said, using the rather insensitive, but accurate euphemism for North Korea's usual scheduled antics.

"Yeah, the Chinese are trying to calm them down, but they won't stop threatening to destroy New York and Washington after they conquer South Korea…you know I have half a mind to have the _Alaska_ hover right over their capital and let them shiver in fear and then just…fly away."

"You know you can't do that sir," Carter chuckled.

"I know, but anyway back on topic, anything else?"

"Sir, Mr. Yamaguchi also put this on my desk when he asked for a private meeting," Carter said, holding up a file full of papers, "It's orders from the IOA Board, ordering the shipyards to postpone warship construction in favor of constructing massive City Ships for colonization purposes."

"Why those little…" O'Neill started to growl, "They've gone too far this time. Hank I'm telling you they've gone too far this time!"

"Whoa there Jack, let's not react too quickly," Hank calmly said.

"Sir, these Pioneers, as the IOA has dubbed them, are completely unfeasible with the facilities we have at our disposal, and it's so apparent that I think the IOA knows it. They didn't want the things built. They just wanted to be able to tell us to do it."

"Another power grab, this one not so under the table. This was blatant, they want us to challenge them," O'Neill thought, "After the whole Cylon battle thing they have us under the magnifying glass, and with the Colonial Culture thing they feel like they have the advantage with the moral high ground on their side."

"So what are my orders sir? Do I look into this Colony City? Or just put on the shelf as a thing to look at later? I know telling them no will only lead to trouble," Carter said, remembering what had happened last time she directly challenged the IOA. This time she was being smart about it."

"Put a new team of engineers and scientists on it," O'Neill said, then remembering the Dutch team that was waiting in the gate room to head to Terra Nova themselves along with a shipment of supplies and equipment, "I think I know just the people to do it too, there's a team of Dutch scientists here if you'd like. They can cut their teeth on that, so if they make some progress then we might be onto something, if not, oh well no harm done."

"Not a bad idea sir, and I have some rookies here from the States that need something to do."

"Very well Carter, O'Neill out."

Kobol, Lowlands outside the City of the Gods

Mitchell and the rest of SG-1 were all following a single member from SG-12 who'd informed them that they had found something that they would probably want to see. If there was one thing everyone on SG-1 had learned is that on an alien planet anything could be important and in this particular situation, they should check out anything that seemed odd or out of place.

"Here it is sir," the man said, pointing his M4 at the item in question that two members of SG-12 were currently examining.

"Daniel do your thing," Mitchell motioned.

"Right," he said, moving towards the door and with his well trained eye began looking for anything that might mean something. He started with the edges, and worked his way in, looking for the telltale markings that usually came with this type of tomb but quickly discovered there was nothing, "Well this is odd, there's no markings, not one."

"What do you mean, no markings? Is it even a tomb or is it just a rock? No offense Major," Mitchell said to the SG-12 leader who was currently watching Daniel try and unravel the mystery of this little find.

"No…this is definitely man-made, see the way this entrance is symmetrical? That's your first clue right there, and then the second clue is this here," Daniel pointed at the rock itself, "It's flat, nearly perfectly flat, but with time the perfection has gone but that's to be expected."

"Just tell us, how do we open the Tomb?"

"Well, let's see here," Daniel said, opening up his weather proof copy of the Sacred Scrolls. He read silently for a moment, then spoke, "It says here that you will find the Tomb of Athena in the gates of Hera…"

Daniel said, looking around at the area where they were standing and pointed at the two peaks above them to the right and left.

"The peaks," Teal'c mumbled.

"Those must be the gates," Mitchell said.

"And to open the tomb, you need…" Daniel said, hesitating to say the next words.

"Need what?" Vala inquired.

"The Arrow of Apollo," Daniel said, slapping the book shut, "Which we don't have."

"So back to square one," Mitchell said, "Without this Arrow of Apollo we're just looking at well nothing. So, I say we go to Plan B, C-4 plant it on the door and we've got ourselves an entrance."

"Whoa whoa," Daniel said, stepping in front of the tomb, "We can't just blow this up. For one we don't know what kind of booby traps are inside that this Arrow of Apollo may shut down, second, if the Colonials see that we pretty much desecrated their sacred Tomb of Athena you can be damned sure they're gonna be pissed."

"Oh no kidding," Mitchell growled, "So what do we do? Just wait around for the Colonials to find Kobol on their own?"

"Well…" Daniel said, and started to look at the door itself and saw something interesting, "We could try pushing."

"Wait a minute, what was that you said about booby traps that the Arrow deactivates?" Vala said, slightly concerned.

"Well, we've come this far," Daniel said.

"Well you're up muscles," Vala said patting Teal'c on the back.

"Indeed."

Both Mitchell and Teal'c walked up next to Jackson and made room for them all to get in next to one another so they all had a piece of the stone to push. SG-12 could be heard cocking its weapons as the group began to exert itself trying to budge the massive stone. Then, with a loud bang the stone gave way, and folded in like a door. Teal'c and Mitchell continued to push as Jackson grabbed his P90 and turned on the flashlight and began to scan inside the pitch black cavern they were opening into. Finally there was enough room for them all to gain entrance and everyone readied their weapons and stacked up at the door.

"Major, stay out here, if you hear anything that sounds like trouble call SG-10 down here for back-up," Mitchell ordered.

"Copy that sir, we've got your back."

"Alright," Mitchell said, taking a deep breath and carefully moved into the Tomb of Athena.

"Oh…this isn't a Tomb," Vala was the next to enter and voiced her disappointment as well as her observations, "Daniel, I thought you said this was a tomb?"

"It is, but…it's not like any Tomb I've ever seen."

He was right, all around them were crumbled and shattered statues of old idols, very familiar idols.

"Is it just me, or do these statues seem to have a theme going on?" Mitchell noticed as he examined what appeared to be an archer in the back of the room.

"Yeah, they're all signs of the Zodiac, the Twins for Gemini, the Archer, for Sagittarius, the Virgin for Virgo, the Bull for Taurus, they're all here."

Vala gasped all of a sudden, pointing her P90 at a dark corner in the dark room, scanning back and forth, panting in fright. The other members of SG-1 went immediately on the alert, scanning their peripherals and corners.

"What is it?" Mitchell asked.

"I don't know, I saw something move, it…it looked like a person," Vala said, "But as soon as I turned to look it disappeared."

"There is no one present but Vala Mal Doran," Teal'c said.

"No, but I am getting the feeling that we're being watched," Daniel said scanning back and forth.

"Let's just hurry up Daniel and find this Athena and get out of here," Vala growled as everyone began to settle down a bit.

"But question is, where's Athena?" Mitchell asked, looking around, still not entirely comfortable with an unshakable he had. It felt like every hair on his body was standing on end, and that his stomach was hatching butterflies that were fluttering around inside. Chills went up and down his spine as he watched Daniel examine the stone around them for any clues.

"That is a good question," Daniel said and then saw that one of the statues, the one for Libra, the Scales of Balance was pretty much intact and had a pair of objects in front of it. These two objects were red and blue stones covered in dust as they sat on plates before the statue. Then, he started flipping through the book and then pointed at something, "Athena was the patron goddess of the Colony Libran, or as we know it Libra. So I'm guessing, that this statue has a part to play in this little legend."

"What do you mean Jackson?"

"See this? It's the Scale of Balance, the Zodiac Sign for Libra, they're not balanced, I'm guessing, that if we balance it out…" he said, taking the two stones which were actually different weights and placed the heavier red one in the left pan and the lighter blue one in the right pan, "Something should happen."

And boy did something happen, the heavy door at the entrance to the Tomb shut them in, trapping all four members of SG-1 into the tomb with only they're flashlights as their source of light. Then they all were completely enveloped in a sudden and familiar shine of light from above and felt the familiar tingling sensation of being transported. And a split second later found themselves in a very familiar place. The dirt and stone floor was gone, replaced instead by smooth but dusty metal. The walls were textured and indented with symbols and Ancient language. A set of stairs was directly in front of them, and to the left was a balcony that had a walkway that led into another room with glass on the sides. Stained glass windows were glowing a gentle blue from the shining of the stars and moon. Hallways branched off to their left and right, and behind them, was a Stargate.

"Are we where I think we are?" Mitchell asked, shock working its way into his voice.

"Yeah, I think we are," Daniel replied, walking forward towards the stairs. He'd read the reports of what Atlantis had done when it realized it was inhabited again, but this place didn't seem to react at all.

"Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c said from directly behind everyone.

"Yeah, that is what I think it is right?" Vala asked, pointing out at what was obviously a perfect copy of Atlantis, poking up above thick layers of fog and mist as a gentle rain pattered away outside.

"It's a City Ship."

**And done, I felt like writing and boy did I write huh? I guess you guys will begin to see a few potential problems brewing in the near future, as well as a few cool items. So tell me what you think, thank you for reading.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The past of the Colonies is revealed, and Starbuck flies where she really isn't supposed to fly, and learns the hard way that First Contacts are harder than they look.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Another update for the masses! I've worked really hard on this on, and have come up with an idea for a contest and have worked out the details for it. The details shall be at the end of the chapter in the Author's Notes. For now, enjoy the chapter.**

**Chapter 15**

Location: Planet Frencalis, Transport _Vara Luna_

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 0500 Lima

The sun was rising on what was to be a rather eventful day for the landing forces of the Jaran Marines, the sea-borne infantry branch of the Jaran Joint Military. Their objective, take and hold a pair of beachheads near the enemy held Jaran city of Lajan. Much of the landing force were all experienced troops from a thirteen year war, but more than half were raw recruits, fresh from boot. Their presence was easily visible by their clean and new equipment, uniforms, and for many, young faces. Their landing craft were roped to the sides of their converted transport cargo ships, bobbing in the low dark sea that surrounded the forty ships of the Liberation Forces. Cigarettes were being smoked, meals were being ate, and equipment and weapons being checked and rechecked among the troops. The officers were all in Battalion and Regimental briefings below deck as the tiny crews of the ships carefully maneuvered their precious vessels into position behind the steel fortresses of their escorts. A total of twenty ships, carrying nearly fifty thousand troops were all in their tight formation strung out two deep in line with five dreadnoughts, two carriers, four cruisers, and nine escorts all lined up south of the city.

"Hey Sarge," one of the green rookies quietly asked, tapping on the shoulder of his squad leader, "When do we land?"

"Not for a while, the CO hasn't gotten back, and the Navy still has yet to open up on the Xenos' defenses."

"Sorry Sarge, I just…I just guess I'm jumpy," the young blonde kid admitted, leaning against the railing, pulling a long drag from the cigarette he was smoking. He couldn't have been more than seventeen, there were plenty of new recruits lying about their age to get into the fight. It was illegal of course, but this long into the war, the recruiters turned a blind eye and allowed hundreds of thousands of these young teens to join up to fight, "This is my first action."

"Don't worry about it, the first time's always the toughest," the old NCO said, "I was the same way when I first went into action six years ago with the 62nd Legion. It's alright son, don't worry, we've air superiority so the enemy doesn't have a clue we're coming."

"Are…are you nervous right now sir?" the kid asked.

"Of course, if you're not nervous, you're scared, if you're neither, you're either lying or stupid," the old NCO said, "Now why don't you get back with the others? Check your equipment and your weapon, keep busy. And remember, don't eat too much, I don't want you getting sick on the way in."

"Got it Sarge," the young kid said, putting his cloth camo covered helmet on and turning to go back and join the other members of his squad. The Jaran troops all had been properly equipped with pocket covered inflatable vests and battle dress uniforms that were solid dark green with a steel helmet that went down to protect the neck and ears. They all had bolt action rifles with a ten shot magazine, but each squad had two water cooled machine guns attached to them with ammo and spare water canisters for cooling the heavy weapons.

The old NCO had been in the war for over eight years, and he was only thirty, but among the others in his unit, he was an old man. And this brutal war had turned him into one mentally. His nation had been at war with the other dominant power on the planet Frencalis for thirteen years and had just now taken the advantage and initiative against their enemy, the nation of Xena, an aggressive imperial nation of more than fifty million people, a relatively similarly sized nation to his own native and beloved nation of Jara. His nation was but on the brink of defeat, losing much of its lands and cities as well as outlying islands in an unprecedented coordinated offensive that had cost them more than a hundred thousand men and a full half of their fleet. For three years, the Xenos had run rampant, seizing smaller less powerful nations and establishing a firm hold on the lands and cities his people were now beginning to take back. The Jarans had fought for well over six more years in relative stalemate until the Xenos made one last play for a decisive win, and were caught out in the open, allowing the Jarans to launch the very offensive Sergeant Luis McCallan and his squad were involved in.

"Sarge! The CO's back!" one of the platoon leaders shouted over to him.

"Yeah I'm comin' hold your…" he said, snatching his bolt action rifle off of the railing and slung it over his shoulder.

Then, the early morning's peace was shattered by dozens of light anti-aircraft guns opening fire. Red tracers went flying up, tearing at the low cloud cover and illuminating the clouds as they entered the thick clouds that hung over the fleet. Dozens of men on the ship's deck began rapidly putting up their equipment and packing their packs and put their weapons back together. Alarms began going off as explosions from the heavier AA Guns went off, making puffs of black smoke in the air that sent thousands of deadly shrapnel pieces into the air to tear apart the unfortunate plane or planes that had stumbled onto the Liberation Fleet.

"Shit!" Sergeant McCallan said, and begun shoving his way through the Marines on the deck to find the CO of his unit.

"Sergeant! Sergeant McCallan! Get your squad into their landing craft!" he could hear his platoon leader saying as he stood on top of a command vehicle where several officers were putting up maps and battle plans as the troops all hurriedly prepared for their invasion.

"Yes sir!" he replied, and began shouting orders to get his men into their positions. It was difficult with all the confusion going on, and then even more so as the warships of the fleet began firing on the beach landing zones to try and soften them up as best they could.

"What is that?!" someone screamed in front of him as he shoved men towards the railings as cargo nets were tied down and tossed over the side so the numerous troops could get to their landing craft.

McCallan looked up, and saw a single dart shaped object flying overhead and tried couldn't get a good look before it was lit up with a spotlight for a split second, that made the object dazzle as it came flying over the fleet and blindingly fast speeds, but not fast enough apparently. One lucky gunner managed to land a decisive blow from one of the heavy guns that exploded feet from the craft and sent smoke and fire billowing from it. The object went straight towards the beach, spinning out of control where the glowing trail of fire and smoke disappeared over the thick wooded hills. Then, with everyone watching, the horizon glowed a dark orange and died down again.

"What was that?"

Eighty Thousand Feet Above Jaran Liberation Fleet

"Well, they're definitely ships," Apollo said, flying right beside Starbuck and ahead of the Marine Raptor that was busy snapping photo after photo and beaming its findings back to the _Surveyor_.

"Oh is that what those are? I thought they were whales that were moving in perfect formation and were made of steel," Starbuck sarcastically remarked.

"Don't be sarcastic Starbuck, just stay out of their range. We have idea if they're warships or if they're a civilian convoy, or if they even have AA Guns, let's hang back and let the cameras do their jobs."

Kara just rolled her eyes and banked slightly, trying for a better look at the large array of vessels below her. She could see them fairly well from the altitude she was at, or at least the wakes and large carpet of pale green bioluminescence that was following the wake of the formation. They were within sight of land but she couldn't see the city that was supposedly on the coast. She and Apollo had been escorting the Raptor for a good few minutes now and she had quickly gotten bored.

"Lee you know those cameras won't do the job from this altitude, no offense Raptor," she said looking over at the Raptor pilot who flipped her a courteous middle finger, "So how about I take a good look with my gun camera and get some close-ups? I'll be in and out before they even know it."

"Stay in formation Lieutenant, we have to…" Lee stopped as he saw the glint of something flying below him, "What the…hey Starbuck, we're not alone up here, one o'clock low see it?"

"Yeah I got it, it's pretty far out from its home base, I think I'll take a quick peak, and I promise to stay away from the ships."

And before he could stop her, Starbuck spun and dove down, closing rapidly with the two contacts she was wanting a better look at. And within moments she had closed the distance greatly, getting a better and better look at the two aircraft in the predawn light. They were colored a dark blue with black stripes on them and as she dove under them she got a look at their robin's egg blue underbellies. But what was most disturbing was the fact that they were driven by propellers. Each of the planes had propellers mounted in their cone shaped noses with fire licking out of the sets of exhaust vents right behind the engine. There were large air intakes directly underneath the props, she saw and determined, using her own rather limited knowledge coupled with her current observations to make a judgment. A pair of large protrusions on each wing signified these planes were armed with four, maybe more, cannons or machine guns. There were racks underneath the wings for rockets or bombs to be stuck for ground attack missions. She could tell these were warplanes, deadly ones. A mark on the sides and under and above the wings signified some type of national symbol or unit symbol, but she couldn't really tell. So she got closer, trying very hard not to stall at the low speeds she was going.

"Starbuck what are you doing? Get away from them, they'll make your position!" Apollo ordered her on the radio.

"Hold on, there's some kind of symbol on these planes, I'm trying to get a better look."

As she continued to close on the lead plane she got a better picture of what it was, it was a pair of white crescents, arranged horizontally connected by a white line with a set of symbols she didn't recognize on it. It was set against a black circle that it was set into for better visibility and made it that much easier to record it on her helmet's camera. But then she realized something, she had followed them too far. The two planes broke away suddenly, and dove for the deck, washing her Viper in prop wash that buffeted her roughly and woke her up to the reality of what she'd flown into.

"Starbuck!"

It was too late, flak rose loudly from beneath and in front of her from the ships in deadly streams of red lights and yellow explosions. Her cockpit lit up with alerts she was being lit up by DRADIS or whatever it was these people used for targeting. But the fact their planes were propeller driven made her think she was safe from missiles, but little did Starbuck know the guns she was evading were Radar guided, and the gunners were hardened veterans who knew how to use them.

"Don't worry, these guys can't hit…"

_CRASH!_

Starbuck felt her entire Viper shudder and groan as a solid blast of flak hit her port side and riddled her Number One engine and fuselage with white hot shrapnel. Her panels went nuts blinking red across the board as every alarm went off trying to gain her attention to inform her something was wrong. The canopy was cracked open on her left side with pieces of the metal still embedded in it which limited visibility. And worst off, she was losing altitude, fast. Her attempts to pull up only met with her undamaged right side responding which put her into a spin she couldn't stop. Fire licked at her peripheral vision as she saw she was headed towards a wooded landscape that was being torn asunder by explosions. Fires and columns of smoke reached into the sky as her altitude fell below a thousand feet. She knew she had two choices, eject or die. She chose to eject, but this was risky, as she was in a spin there was no way of telling if she was going to end up ejecting straight down into a tree without having the opportunity to open her chute, but she took the risk. With a desperate yank she felt herself ejected from her dead Viper and went, thankfully skyrocketing up into the air. Her chute deployed as soon as she was away from her seat and then started to fall towards the rough unforgiving landscape of trees.

She didn't fall for long, which gave her shivers down her spine as to how close she was when she ejected. She fell through several layers of tree branches starting with the smaller twig like ones and then began bouncing off of the thicker more substantial branches and trunks. Her parachute snagged instantly on the tree branches, tearing and snagging amongst them all until her downward falling ended with her on her side with her ankle trapped in a fork on a tree.

"Starbuck! Do you read me?! Kara!" she could hear Lee screaming desperately over the radio.

"I'm fine Lee, just got shot down by a bunch of frakking primitive ships. Damn your sister's never gonna let me live this down," she bit back, very upset at having to be found and rescued. This was something that Kelsey would never let her live down ever since Kara had given her a hard time about being lost, rescued, then kidnapped and rescued, "Just come get me before one of these guys does."

"That's a problem Starbuck," Apollo said, "From where I'm at the whole area around you just turned into a warzone. Flak's everywhere, and I can see planes all over the place making attack runs and flying CAP off of those two flat ships. If we send the Raptor down there we risk losing it, we're gonna have to wait. Sit tight, and for frak's sakes no more taking chances."

"Are you kidding?! I'm trapped in the middle of a warzone, with bombs and shells falling all around me and what's worse, a frakking invasion is coming?! Get me out of here!" she said angrily as she tried pulling her foot free, but only managed to wrestle her parachute free from more branches and then fell but her ankle stayed wedged. But because it stayed wedged, her body's weight falling shot pain through her ankle as her ankle sprained from the pressure, "And now my frakking ankle is sprained to hell. You'd better get me out of here!"

"Just sit tight, I'm sending the Raptor back to the fleet for support," Lee said, "In the meantime, stay out of sight, and stay alive. We'll get you out."

"Fine, but…" she stopped midsentence as a twig snapped in the vicinity of her position.

"Starbuck," Lee said, hearing her voice cut off.

She strained her head to see what it was that had caused the twig in question to snap and saw a shape moving in the darkness towards her, flashing a light onto the ground. She clicked off her helmet's lights and began desperately struggling to get down from the tree.

"Someone's coming."

USS _Apollo_, Shadowing Kobol Expedition

"Colonel," Major Kevin Marks said to alert his CO who was going over some reports from one of the U-307's that had gone on a scouting mission to take a quick peak at the Colonial fleet the _Apollo_ had been tracking for a little over a week.

"What is it Major?" Colonel Ellis asked.

"Sir I'm reading a Colonial vessel in orbit around the planet P7X-522 on our subspace scanners," Marks reported.

"Are sure it's Colonial Major?" Ellis asked.

"Yes sir, signature of matches one of the Colonial vessels. It appeared in orbit as soon as it disappeared from the Colonial formation."

"Any idea what they're doing there?" Ellis asked.

"Negative unless…sir, P7X-522 was contacted by Stargate Command three weeks ago, the planet is inhabited but buried its gate after making first contact. It's roughly developed to the level we were at during World War Two."

"Oh shit, helm, take us in, we need to keep the Colonials from trying anything with the locals before things get nasty. If these people piss them off we could have a blood bath on our hands."

"Yes sir, taking us into hyperspace."

Just like that the _Apollo_ opened up a pulsing and swirling green vortex into Hyperspace and dove right into it. She didn't have her galactic drive in use so that the vessel didn't overshoot the planet and the Colonial ship that was in orbit. But they were close enough that the hyperspace trip lasted mere seconds and the lone Battlecruiser emerged above the Colonial science vessel and four smaller vessel that were in escort around it.

"Hyperspace jump complete sir," Marks said, "Contact, confirmed Colonial vessel and three Colonial fighters and one scout ship."

"Open a channel to them."

"Yes sir," Marks said, punching in the keys that had been distributed to all Earth ships in the event they ran into a Colonial ship, "You're on sir."

"Attention Colonial vessel, this is the Earth Defense Ship _Apollo _come in please," Ellis said over the radio.

There was a moment of silence until a voice came over the radio over the bridge intercom, "This is Captain Lee Adama, commanding officer of the military escort for the civilian ship _Surveyor_."

"Captain mind if I ask what you're doing here? This planet is inhabited and we would like you to know that they really aren't a group who want to talk, they've got a few issues to work out on their own," Ellis said.

"Yeah we noticed that, one of our Vipers was shot down, we're planning a rescue operation at the moment but we're having a little trouble, the area where our pilot went down is a warzone," the Colonial responded, "We were attempting to gain some photographs of what appeared to be sea going vessels and a city and she got caught up in the battle and went down."

"Well stay up here Captain, this is a bit out of your league."

"That was my plan, we were about to send our Raptor back to the Fleet for support and to report what's happened."

"Does your pilot have a transponder? We can locate her if she has it activated," Ellis asked.

"Negative, she hasn't activated it and the Viper model she was in doesn't have a beacon. It's an older Mark III Viper."

"He's right sir, and I'm reading thousands of life signs in the area, it's impossible to beam her out without a signal source," Marks responded.

"Damn, alright Captain, stand by we'll see what we can do. This isn't our first Search and Rescue on an inhabited planet."

"Thank you for the support, but our Raptor is returning to the Fleet and will return with help shortly."

"We can't stop 'em from doing that sir," Marks said, "Our orders are not to engage the Colonials or restrain them without proper concern for their safety and the security of Earth and other inhabited worlds."

"Well, this is a toughie, get on the horn to Earth, we need to report this in."

Unknown Ancient City Ship

The four man and woman strong team of SG-1 was still very much intrigued with the fact they were on what was definitely an Ancient City Ship. They'd quickly learned that they were in the dark as the city didn't have any power to speak of, which meant progress through the city had taken hours. Every door had to be opened by hand, and none of the transporters were operational due to the lack of power. And this had quickly driven Colonel Mitchell nuts.

"Don't the Ancients have back-up power supplies on these things?" he said, walking down the hall towards what they knew would be the power station of the city.

"Of course, but in the time this place has been dormant they might have died," Daniel said shrugging as he looked at every single thing he could get a flashlight on.

"Along with three ZPM's? I find that unlikely," Vala groaned.

"Perhaps the Ancients did not have three ZPM's," Teal'c said.

"Teal'c right, that would explain why the Ancients left this city here, maybe they just thought they'd get more ZPM's later and then return when they could."

"Doesn't look like their schedules opened up," Mitchell remarked sarcastically.

But Vala was still quite jumpy, and let the others know her fears. She'd continued seeing the shape of someone throughout the city, seeing it or them in walls, doors, and even amongst them. But this time, the rest of the team has seen the figure, several times.

"Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c suddenly spoke up, pointing his weapon down an adjacent hallway.

"What do you got…what the Hell?!" Mitchell snapped looking at the startlingly human figure before them.

But nothing about the details was seen, only the outline in dark gray. The body and face of the figure was a swirling gray and white glow that seemed to be only there. It seemed to faintly glow, casting strange and odd shadows everywhere. The eyes were the only thing that seemed to be human as they just poked through the mist and allowed a strange calm expression as they gazed at SG-1. It was feminine, the curves of the body were evidence, and the outline of the character's hair went down to the shoulders. Her arms were at her sides as she just stood there, looking at them before it slowly faded from view.

"Now this is getting really weird," Vala said, watching Teal'c walk to where the figure had been standing.

"I'll say," Daniel agreed.

"Come on, let's get the power back on, this place is giving me the creeps," Mitchell ordered.

"Yes please," Vala said.

"Ya know, I think I have a theory on what that figure is, it might be Athena, the Colonials' goddess who I theorized was an Ancient that was cast in the light of a goddess."

"Not now!"

"No it kinda is, if this is one of the Ancients that established this place for the Twelve Tribes then wouldn't it make sense to try and make contact?" Jackson replied testily.

"Jackson, we have no idea if that is an ascended being, a ghost, or a defense mechanism put in place to kill anyone who it deems as a threat!" Mitchell snapped.

"I thought that ascended beings couldn't interfere? Isn't that against their rules or something?" Vala said.

"Well, I guess this one isn't interfering, it's just...watching us."

"Jackson, this it?"

"Yeah, if this is a genuine copy of Atlantis then it should be the power station."

"Teal'c, one more door and we're done, hopefully."

With that promise Teal'c and Mitchell grabbed onto the doors and got themselves a good grip. And with a solid heave they began creaking the doors apart and finally had them wide open. And what awaited them was what they were looking for. Several consoles of glass buttons and readouts hanging from the ceiling, all dead, surrounded a central pedestal where they knew ZPM's went into.

"Jackpot," Mitchell said, walking up to the pedestal and then looked inside to see that, unfortunately, each of them was empty, "Not jackpot. Jackson, we got a problem, no ZPM's."

"What? None?" Jackson said, looking inside the empty slots.

"Unless they're invisible, which…hold on a second," Mitchell said, putting a finger in the slots to be sure the not so farfetched idea was false, "Yeah no ZPM's. We're just shit out of luck."

"Indeed."

"So now what? How do we get out of here?" Vala asked, "With no power we have no way of knowing where we even are! Much less getting back to the Tomb where, I can bet you on this, SG's Twelve and Ten are about to blow that door to smithereens trying to get in."

"Yeah, unless they try pushing first, which I hope they end up doing. But you just hit the problem right on the head, we have no clue where we are, and how we're getting back into contact with the rest of the teams. We need to find some kind of power. Man I wish Carter was here."

"No kidding, but we'll find some way out of…" in that moment the group was enveloped by a white light that blinded them for a second before they realized they were in friendly company, "here…"

"G'day Colonel Mitchell," a loud and very friendly voice called out in a very thick Australian accent, "Welcome aboard the Her Majesty's Australian Ship _Aquila_."

"The _Aquila_? Hold on, what are you guys doing out here?" Mitchell asked the young female Australian standing in front of them, "And who are you?"

"Colonel Sandra Fredricks, sorry about the scare mate, but your life signs appeared weak on our sensors, so we took no chances. We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by, see if you needed anything."

"Well, we need some naquadah generators and to call Command, we've found something they might want to see," Mitchell stated.

"We can take care of that for ya. In the meantime, we've got guests ya hungry?" Colonel Fredricks offered.

"No we're fine, we ate before we left. And seriously we need to report to the SGC, we've got our hands on an Ancient City Ship. And the Colonials will flip shit if they find out we beat 'em to it."

"Fair enough, and…hold on, did…did you say City Ship?" the officer asked, "We didn't pick that up on our sensor sweep when we were looking for you."

"You didn't? Let me see," Mitchell ordered, receiving a point towards the monitor on the wall of the bridge where all they were seeing was a single volcanic peak with a large bed of water in it mostly covered by fog.

"That's where our sensors picked you up Colonel, you sure you were in a City Ship?"

"Positive, and if I had to bet, I'd say that little lake in that crater is about the right size for a City Ship wouldn't you say?" Mitchell asked.

"It's more than three kilometers in diameter, of course it can, but, I don't see it here, nor on our other scanners."

"The whole city's power system is dead as a door nail, but it is there. Trust me," Mitchell said.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it, but something mighty fishy is goin' on down there."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed as he stood next to them examining the picture.

"Well, we still have your coordinates from when we beamed you out, we can send you back, but unless our sensors are screwy you'll end up three hundred feet above a cold lake," the Aussie officer stated, "I'll get an away team assembled with a pair of naquadah generators and you lot can take us in with you."

"It wouldn't be the craziest thing I've seen."

Twenty Minutes Later

The two small generators that the Aquila had aboard for emergencies were doing the job nicely, being an improved version of what had been used before. Instead of the low yield Mk. I's or the completely unstable Mk. II's the new Mk. III's were as powerful as the Mk. II's and had the stability of the Mk. I which made it perfect for the job at hand.

First the teams got the power to the control room back online, and then prioritized from there, starting with the status of the city, security, pathogen protection, etc. But Daniel had wanted access to the hologram room where obviously some record would remain. So after begging for about ten minutes he got what he wanted, and SG-1 was there to watch.

"You guys ready to watch the magic?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, as long as this ghost or ascended being doesn't make an appearance," Vala said. She was right, the Australian tech team had been half scared into leaving when they encountered the mysterious being that only seemed to be there to watch and observe.

"Well, I don't think it'll matter very much anymore. We've got a live feed."

As Jackson spoke there was a sudden sparkle of gentle flecks of light that formed into the figure of a single red headed woman in a white robe with a silver crown before them, staring off into space, "Welcome to the Olympus Records, please state your inquiry."

"Olympus?" Mitchell asked, "Like in…"

"Like in the legends of Greek mythology yeah. It would make sense, the Gou'ald aren't very creative, it's perfectly acceptable that they copied the names of the Ancients and their city to give themselves a higher standing among the humans of the galaxy."

"Alright, so…enter a request."

"Umm…tell me about the Twelve Colonies of Kobol," Daniel asked.

"The Twelve Colonies of Kobol are the names given to the twelve different tribes of humans that were chosen from around the galaxy after the great plague wiped out most life in the Milky Way Galaxy. Those not affected were brought here, where they would be thought safe and secure. To monitor the Twelve Tribes of Aries, Capricorn, Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Aquaria, Pisces, and a thirteenth tribe taken from Earth, a City Ship, filled with many of our own kind stayed there as well. For a time, the humans prospered and grew wise and strong, greatly increasing their numbers and level of development under our guidance. But, our time ran short, and our people left for a new home. But twelve stayed, and then the Twelve Tribes began turning us into their idols as Gods, we accepted this without much thought, but little did we know the error of this decision…"

Then, the recording faded and stopped, dissolving into a cloud of shimmering dust into the floor. Daniel stammered out, "What? What happened to make the Twelve Tribes leave Kobol, what happened?!"

Then a new figure rose from the dust, a man this time is a toga with a lightning bolt symbol on a metal button that held it together, "This is Olympus to any Alteran vessels or outposts, please respond, the human population has turned against themselves, thousands are dying in what the majority calls a religious crusade. The Twelve Tribes have attacked their Earth brethren, we have no idea why, but Earth's people are being decimated before we can do anything. But the prevailing theory is because the Earth population refused to treat us as a pantheon of Gods. Now, Earth's people are readying a retaliatory strike and…" in that moment, a sudden rumble in the background caused the man in the center of the image to shake and stumble, "Oh no…" and just like that, the image faded and the group of SG-1 was left speechless.

"This is it, this is the great catastrophe that happened to send the people away, the Ancients realized that to keep them together would spell doom for them all, so they sent separate ways and those that didn't want to leave on the ships were sent through the Stargate to…wherever it is they sent them," Daniel said.

"Well, I guess religious crusades seems to be the source of aggression yet again gang, let's report to Landry. And get some experts on City Ships out here so we can get this thing mobile."

"Atlantis?"

"Who else?"

Stargate Command, Earth

"General," Sergeant Harriman said, poking his head into his CO's office, "A call from the Apollo has come in for you sir."

"Patch it to me," Landry ordered, tapping the button to make his communication screen in his desk rise so that he could talk with Colonel Ellis about whatever it was that was going on. And within seconds of the alert, Colonel Ellis's face was on the screen, "Colonel?"

"General Landry sir, we have a bit of a situation. A Colonial science vessel has been detected in orbit over P7X-522, and it seems like one of their escorting fighters went down on the planet below. We have no way of getting her off the planet, and the Colonials are planning their own rescue mission as we speak. We're expecting one of their warships any moment now."

"We thought this would happen Colonel, just try and keep the Colonials in space and be ready for anything."

"And if the Colonials attempt to land on the planet sir?" Ellis asked.

"Just dissuade them, keep them in orbit, use your own scout ships in cloak to try and get a fix on the Colonial pilot and keep the Colonials in orbit. Use your transporters, I'd rather they found out about those and get scared than shooting them down."

"Yes sir, but we'll need support if they decide to send down large numbers of troops," Colonel Ellis replied, "In the meantime though we'll keep you informed sir."

"Very well."

As Landry hung up a sudden and familiar alarm went off signifying a gate activation. As was his duty, he went straight to the gate room. The gate was already activated, the troops in position and the iris in place. The gate control room was buzzing, running through their responsibilities quickly and professionally. It made Landry very proud that he was in command if this outstanding unit of men of women who never needed reprimanding to do their job. They were so good at it that he almost had nothing to complain about. But he snapped out of his nostalgia as one of the men spoke up.

"Sir, it's SG-1 from Kobol, Colonel Mitchell says it's urgent."

"Very well," Landry said, looking at the computer where communication usually came in from.

"General Landry sir," Mitchell's face could be seen where he was looking into the MALP's camera on one knee, "We've got something that you probably ought to know about."

"Let's hear it Colonel."

"Sir we uh…we found an Ancient City Ship, an exact copy of Atlantis. It's completely devoid of power, and we could use some backup, preferably backup from some experts on this type of technology. Better get Colonel Sheppard to clear up his schedule, we could use him and his team."

"I'll see what I can do Colonel," Landry said, "Any sign of Colonials?"

"Negative sir, we're alone, except for a ghost that's been stalking us since we got here. Jackson believes it's an ascended being keeping an eye on their city. We also got a recording from the Ancient database here, it turns out this place was a refuge for several different civilizations, including some people from Earth as it turns out. But according to what we saw and heard, the Twelve Tribes began worshiping the Ancients and then tried wiping out their buddies that wouldn't follow suit. We're assuming that the Ancients broke up the fight after it got nasty and sent each group on their way while those not able to get on a ship they sent through the Stargate to destinations unknown."

"Very well Colonel, stay in touch," Landry said.

"Oh General, before you hang up, we found the city and were trapped inside without means of getting back out. But the Aussies' Battlecruiser, the Aquila, pulled us out. When we told them where we were they said their scanners didn't see it. And it turns out sir, they didn't. The city's invisible, or the Aquila's scanners aren't working."

"Get a visual on it from the ground Colonel, see if the city is cloaked, if it is, find out how it's doing it."

"Yes sir."

"We'll contact you when we get a response from Atlantis."

"Thank you sir, Mitchell out."

Landry watched the gate deactivate, and furrowed his brow in a curious fashion, thinking on this rather odd revelation. It wasn't every day an Ancient City Ship turned up, and it wasn't every day that it was invisible to the most advanced scanners in their arsenal. Then again, this was a job where stuff tended to defy expectations every day.

"Dial Atlantis."

Choros, Moon of Ragnar, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command Facility

It was a perfect location for the Colonials. The small isolated moon had always been an Intelligence Facility. It started out its life as a mining facility, digging out metals like iron, titanium, and copper that was established many years before the first Cylons were first built by Graystone Industries. Then, the mines ran dry, and the facility was abandoned, at least officially. In truth the shadow branch of Colonial Fleet Intelligence had taken possession and had used it to store such valuable artifacts as the original Charter of Colonization, and items from the dig on Gemenon that had brought the Ring of the Lords to light. Now, it had grown into a working command facility, bringing in new personnel, new equipment, and had expanded its massive facility to encompass many cubic miles of tunnels, store rooms, laboratories, bunkers, armories, barracks, and at the core of this place, a single lead and titanium encased bunker where massive blocks of fusion generators were connected, to provide the adequate power requirements thought necessary to bring the core interest of the bunker to light, the Ring of the Lords. A complex bank of computer terminals completely cut off from the outside world was set up ready for its task and programming thought necessary to bring the Ring to life.

The Ring of the Lords had been, much to the displeasure of the civilian leadership, seized and transported within the belly of the Warstar _Pheonix_ with the added escort of her two sisters, the _Olympus _and _Emperor_ along with thirty Battlestars and their own cruisers and escorts. All of this was under the personal command of Admiral Nagala himself, who took no chances with such a valuable asset.

The room itself was massive, with the primary control room being in a segregated part that was meticulously balanced above it with only two ways in that were guarded with cameras and sentries every few meters. The Ring was on the floor, built on a slight rise so that the fifty troops always on duty in the room had a much easier target if whatever came through was hostile. It was human tendency to shoot high in combat, so the Ring was raised to take advantage of this. Light machine guns were set up behind concrete barricades to give protection to the gunners. Five pillboxes were set up within the walls with heavy machine guns aiming right at the Ring. A garage was located with access to vehicles should the use of the numerous vehicles be needed for going through the Ring. But all this security was backed up by a series of contingency plans. One was specific to the Ring Room, a venting of the atmosphere to deal with pathogens of hostile entry. But the most deadly was a series of nuclear explosions coupled with an overload of the numerous fusion reactors that would actually break apart the small moon.

The facility was also, as one would expect, well protected. There were enough point defense guns to outfit two Warstars pock marking the surface in fortified concrete and steel bunkers that were designed to retract and deploy at will. Dozens of massive kinetic energy cannons like those used on the Fleet's capital ships were deployed across the surface in blocks designed to have complete coverage of the small moon from any angle of attack. An equal number of missile launchers of all sizes, there were eighteen groupings of ten anti-ship missile silos that were armed with standard and nuclear ordinance and were best of all reloadable and fully stocked with dozens of powerful missiles. There were yet more SAM launchers in rings around the concentrations of big guns and missile silos. There were turrets specifically designed and deployed in fortified turrets for the purpose of engaging any potential landing forces on the surface of the planet. For any attacking force, this place was a death trap with the current defenses on the surface. But there was yet a more potent defensive measure. A concentration of hangars on the magnetic poles of the moon held over a thousand Vipers and Raptors drawn from planet-side squadrons and newly activated squadrons from the several academies it was a potent defensive line. And manning all of this was the equivalent of two divisions of Colonial Marines. Their job was to make anyone who entered the massive facility of tunnels and blocks of corridors and rooms pay for every inch. They had been required to memorize the facility and the twists, turns, drops, and falls that made up the complex. Thousands of thick hatches and doors were automated to prevent an atmospheric leak that could compromise the base and block invaders.

The primary entrance of the facility was a massive block of steel with thirty heavy guns and two hundred flak guns all around it with an equal number of missile silos and SAM launchers. Six different hangars serviced four hundred Viper Mk VII's and a hundred Raptors along with sizable number of Colonial Intelligence's primary vessel, the _Night _Class Corvette.

These were predatory and dangerous vessels. They had the same relative amount of firepower as a Destroyer, but were the size of a transport vessel commonly used for transport at roughly two hundred meters long. They had the most deadly targeting systems and DRADIS ever equipped on a Colonial vessel, able to pick out a piece of debris the size of a man's hand from anywhere within its massive range. An advanced segregated computer filtered all this information as quickly as anything the Cylons had to prevent unnecessary DRADIS contacts to appear. The deadliest weapons on these vessels however were the two axial mounted kinetic energy cannons that used an advanced system of magnets to fire its eight foot long tungsten dart at speeds of 0.2 times the speed of light. Couple that with its speed and compact but deadly arsenal and this was more than likely the last thing that most hostile ships saw, if they saw it at all due to its stealthy build and hull make-up. These ships were housed in a massive underground hangar that opened upwards for the ships to come and go vertically, rising and falling into the moon's surface, just outside the building itself.

But of course, an orbital presence was necessary, a series of satellites was towed into place to provide a buffer zone of targets to allow the presence of the guardian force of five Battlestars and thirty other escorts to bring their own firepower to bear. A contingency plan called for a sudden recall of as many forces as deemed necessary to Choros should the need arise. The Admiralty had it planned that the facility could have the entire balance of the Colonial Fleet in orbit within an hour of the emergency beacons and runner Raptors calling out with the message. So, the Colonial military was taking no chances.

At the moment, it was a massive hive of activity as its latest arrivals entered one of the cavernous hangars that were used for transports and supply vessels that came and went on a regular basis. Among these new arrivals was Gaius Baltar, who was ready to make history, and help the Colonies take their first steps into the galaxy via the Ring.

**And done. Thanks for reading, please review and tell me what you think. Hope you all enjoyed it. **

**Now, as I said I have drawn up an idea for a contest. Basically what it entails is a competition to write a good fic for this section. I mean there are only 48 stories and look at all the people who read it! So, to make this section a bit more diverse and provide more reading material, because I love a good story as much as the rest of you, I will ask people to write their own stories. **

**The way it shall be judged and graded is that you will ask reviewers to grade your stories on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being perfect and 0 being the opposite. The number of reviews it irrelevant as it will be averaged. The preferred and suggested topics are Action, Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Sci Fi, and Suspense. The stories don't have to be one-shots, I encourage you guys to write on after the first chapter, who knows, you could end up with a story better than this one. There will be categories, Romance, Action, and Miscellaneous. Romance will be pairings, OC's are accepted, obviously. Action is well… action, battles and thrilling fights between or with the Colonials, Cylons, and Taur'i. And anything that really isn't any of those is in Miscellaneous. Now, to qualify to be judged, you have to review other people's stories. If you want me to review yours, send me a PM with your story's title and its category.**

**Rules: **

**1) Story must be longer than 2,000 Words**

**2) Story must be set in one of the three categories.**

**3) Authors must review other stories to be eligible.**

**4) Flaming other stories will result in disqualification.**

**5) Guest Reviews will not count, it is too easy to type in twenty different alter egos and review your own story. If you wish to review make or use your own account.**

**6) Romance stories shall not have smut or explicit content, come on people keep it classy.**

**7) Ratings will be from K – T, no M rated stories.**

**8) Tell me your story's name and your chosen category.**

**Suggestions: **

**1) At the end of your story remind reviewers to grade your story on a 0-10 scale and explain why they say that so you can improve.**

**2) Write a multiple chapter story.**

**3) Ask me or ReviewerDWJ to review it. We both love this crossover section.**

**4) Do something unique.**

**What's the reward you're wondering? Well, it shall work like this. The people with highest averages in those three categories win the opportunity to co-write a chapter of this story using your chosen category's writing style. If you have any questions PM me and I'll do what I can to clear up any confusion. Contest will end on August 15. I'll post an update to the story saying it is over when that day comes.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Starbuck gets caught up in a war, and Adama gets paid a visit from someone long thought dead. And Atlantis's main characters make an appearance.**


	16. Chapter 16

**I have rewritten this chapter, or at least part of it. I was completely making it up as I went along in the Athena scene and it was late, so it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. So I have made some modifications. Hopefully taking down the previous chapter did the job of erasing the reviews for that one. I'm really sorry if you were all expecting a brand new chapter, but the problem became unavoidable so I went with this option. **

**Chapter 16**

Location: Frencalis, Xeno Occupied Territory

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 0545 Lima

Starbuck was in a pickle, there was no other word for it. She was stuck in a tree, of all things, and was about to be found out by someone or something walking right towards her with a flashlight and possibly a weapon. Thuds and chattering of machine guns and pops of single shots echoed through the early morning hours. The light that was steadily growing closer and closer was slowed down by the thuds and screeches of the incoming shells by taking cover. Starbuck too was stalled by cringing in anticipation of the incoming rounds that passed noisily overhead to impact beyond her sight. But her situation was still dire, and she needed to get down from that tree or she might never get off the planet.

"Hello? Is…is someone there?" a small meek voice cried out as the flashlight pierced the darkness and shined onto her parachute.

Starbuck furrowed her brow as she listened to the voice, it must have belonged to a child. A human child, but would a human child be doing on a distant planet unless this was a distant long lost world inhabited by humans the Sacred Scrolls didn't exactly point out.

"I…I see your parachute…are you Jaran?" the child called out again, growing closer.

Starbuck continued to try and get herself free but then as she did her vision flashed suddenly with a blinding yellow light as the flashlight finally shined onto her face. On reflex she pulled out her pistol, aiming it at the source of the light but didn't fire. A gasp was all she heard as the light stayed on her face, and she tried blocking it out with a hand unsuccessfully.

"Get that out of my frakking face, you're blinding me here!" she growled, receiving cooperation in the form of the light falling onto the ground.

"You're a pilot! But…you're…" the voice continued again a little bit confused.

"No, I'm not one of your people. I'm not even from this planet kid. Damn, this frakking tree is gonna…" Starbuck grumbled again prying herself out of the tree, this time successfully.

With a sudden and painful drop, Starbuck fell about four feet to the ground, dropping her pistol in the process. Her helmet was thankfully still on, so her head didn't take much of a battering, but her neck wasn't all that comfortable with the situation. But its protest was short and harmless as she scrambled to her feet, entangled in the many strings of para-cord that made up her parachutes lines that kept her connected to it.

"Who are you?" the child asked, still just a silhouette in front of her as she unlatched the parachute and pulled her way out of the tangled lines.

"You can just call me Starbuck. What's your name?" she replied, looking back at her parachute, trying to figure out how she was going to get it down, if she could.

It was at that moment she realized it was stuck amongst a heavily laden fruit tree of some type, blue bulbs that size of her fist draped down in bunches of a half dozen. The leaves were a very dark green, and were massive, being bigger than her outstretched hand. And there were dozens of them arranged in rows.

"What is this place?" Kara asked.

"It's my family's farm," the child said, "I'm Farali, but all my friends call me Fara. Come on, before the soldiers come and find you."

Starbuck now was able to get a good look at the child before her, and could pick out an extremely long blonde ponytail on the little girl who had an orange night dress on over her little shoes. A pair of big round blue eyes stared right back at her. She couldn't have been over ten years old, and her innocent smile was clear evidence of this youth despite the war going on all around her.

"Soldiers?" Starbuck asked, holding her pistol just a bit tighter.

"Yes, they take away all pilots that land and never come back. Mommy says they take them to a place that pilots never return from. They're very mean, they killed my daddy."

"Well, I don't want to go there, lead the way Fara," Kara said, trying her best to be pleasant to this little girl who seemed to be risking her neck for her.

"Okay!"

And just like that the little blonde haired girl took off with the hobbling Colonial pilot right behind her. She had her weapon raised, ready to take on all comers should she be compromised. In the meantime the battle continued to rage out in the distance and was getting continually closer as the popping of rifles and the chattering of machine guns echoed out in the early morning as the two belligerents tore at one another's throats.

It didn't take all that long before Starbuck found herself at a purposely blacked out wooden homestead. It was larger than she would have expected, being painted white, with a large front porch that seemed to actually wrap all the way around the house. A few cracks of light escaped from the windows where the residents of the home were clearly awake. As soon as Starbuck and Fara got next to the house the door opened and out ran a woman wearing a pair of work pants and a jacket. She ran out instantly and wrapped her arms around her child.

"Fara! I told you to stay inside, you know what those sounds are!" the woman, who seemed to be an exact copy of the little girl, said.

"Mommy, I'm fine, and look at what I found, a pilot!" Fara said, pointing a tiny hand at Starbuck.

"A pilot? I've never that uniform before. Are you Jaran? Or one of our allies?" the woman said walking up to Starbuck.

"I'm actually not from around here, I'm from another planet. My name is Lieutenant Kara Thrace callsign Starbuck, Colonial Fleet."

"You're a woman?" she said, clearly surprised, "None of the armed forces, Xeno, Jaran, or allied, allow women pilots!"

"And none of them fly the ship that crashed not too far away from here. Could we get past the fact I'm a female pilot and move on. I don't belong here, I was shot down by the fleet that's bombarding the coast and inland and I have to get out of here before I do any more harm," Starbuck said, clearly wanting out of there.

"Okay, if you're not from around here, you have a fairly convincing argument, one you're a woman, two your uniform is unlike anything I've seen, and three I saw your plane fly overhead in a ball of flame. It wasn't like any plane I've seen. And in my time I've seen just about every plane there is to see."

"How do you know that you've seen all there is to see?" Starbuck asked as she was shepherded inside.

"Because I'm the local resistance leader. Clair Dempsey, we've been under occupation for a while and we frequently have to get pilots that have gone down back to our lines."

"Well I guess I couldn't ask for asylum for a little bit could I?" Starbuck asked, hoping quite a bit that the answer would be yes.

"Of course, this way, we have a shelter in the basement. The Xenos have no idea it exists, it's where we hide pilots whenever they need help."

Starbuck felt herself led towards a door to an underground basement where she was surprised to see oil lit lanterns, shelves of food stocks, tin pales of water or whatever liquids these people stored, gas masks in case of chemical attack, several chairs, a few beds, a stove, a table, and whatever else would be needed for them to get out harm's way. The woman bent down next to the table and shoved it to the side and then took a crowbar laying on a shelf and pried several planks up to show a ladder leading downwards.

"Okay, just stay down there. I'll send Fara down to check on you when the coast is clear. The Xenos rarely miss where a pilot has touched down. Stay quiet and you'll be alright," the woman said, closing the door after Starbuck had gone down the ladder enough to secure it.

The floor screeched as the table was dragged back over it and then Starbuck decided to turn her helmet's lights back on to see anything she could. Thankfully, she hadn't taken it off, which meant that she would be able to hear the radio if the descent below fifteen feet of dirt didn't block the signal. But her lights did the trick, and she reached the bottom of the ladder and turned to see a small entry into the hideout and ducked down to enter the small little hole. Inside she was able to make out a few different items; a few cots embedded into the dirt and wood reinforced walls, a dirt floor, a tiny table, an oil lantern, and a few rifles and pistols over in the corner with a couple bandoliers of ammunition nearby. They were all primitive, like the weapons she had seen in museums as a kid or the weapons that were reserved for formal events. But these weren't the shining ornament pieces she had seen before, these were gritty, used, and scratched up. One had a scope with several marks on the side to signify what Starbuck knew were kills.

Ignoring this, Starbuck rested herself on one of the cots and tabbed her radio again, and tried to make contact with Apollo or the Surveyor, "Apollo, Starbuck, do you copy?" she waited for a few moments to try again, "Apollo this is Starbuck do you copy? For frak's sakes Lee pick up the damned radio!"

She yanked off her helmet, knowing that below being so deep below ground her radio had little to no chance of working. But she took the little ear mounted radio that would allow her to hear anything if a signal penetrated down to her. Resigning herself to knowing that her radio was effectively useless on her end until she could get topside she tried to help fill the time with examining one of the weapons in the corner. After lighting a match and getting the oil lantern going with a dull yellow glow she sat down on a chair across from her helmet that was on the bed. She snatched up one of the bolt action rifles, and started carefully testing it, tinkering with the well lubricated bolt action, pulling the trigger, and hearing the click of the firing pin ramming home. It was made of a dark colored wood, with little shine to it; the entire rear action was metal, with four screws holding it in place. The sights were simple, but accurate. A simple iron sight in the rear action poked up, to sight along to a second lower pair on top of the barrel and ended at a single stick poking up from off barrel's tip. But she quickly became bored. And then heard a shuffling noise above her and talking.

"Where is the pilot?" a gruff man's voice yelled out.

"I'm telling you I have no idea what you're talking about! My daughter and I were asleep when we heard explosions going off and fighting in the distance and we came down here!"

It was Clair, Starbuck did not like the way that things were sounding upstairs, and being Starbuck, she grabbed her pistol, clicked the safety and made for the ladder. She quietly climbed the ladder weapon in hand. Then she ended up with her head right below the floor with her right eye lined up next to a slit that let her see into the basement above her.

"Check the floor for where this bitch has hidden that flightless bird, you two, hold them," the same man ordered.

Starbuck saw the light green of someone moving by holding a pistol in his hand as he held Clair by her hair, and shoved her into a chair and then saw Fara being shoved into her mother's hands. Her eyes were scared as she clung to her mother's chest and Clair tried to stroke her daughter's hair.

"Try the table," the man said, and Starbuck saw two men carrying rifles in their left hands and shoved the table onto its side.

One of them kneeled down, making Starbuck shrink back and took her pistol and aimed it right where the opening would be. She knew that she would have to fight these guys not only for her sake but for the sake of Clair and Fara. She heard a knife and a solid grunt and saw the light stream in and instantly aimed at the shocked expression of the man kneeling in front of her.

"Hi ya mother frakker," Starbuck chirped smugly, pulling the trigger and felt the solid kick as her gun went off.

"Shi…"

It seemed to her that her gun going off and the man being practically catapulted off his feet was instantaneous. But she didn't have time for dwelling on that. She saw that four other men were in front of her, holding their weapons in a relaxed pose. As the blood of their comrade sprayed everywhere from the explosive round going off Starbuck aimed again, firing another well placed round that hit home and sent the middle man into the wall. She rose up out of the hole, extending her legs to lock her knees so she would have a clear field of view and fired again as the third one took another bullet. But by the time she had aimed again the man with the pistol had brought his weapon up and had fired at her, kicking up a shower of splinters that made her duck back before she could fire back.

Clair and Fara dropped to the floor, allowing the combatants to fire at will without them being in the crossfire. Starbuck fired again, missing her shot but hit the wall near the two men before they could fire back. She fired two more rounds, hitting the other man, and forcing the leader to make the smart decision and ran.

"We got ourselves a fighter! Get me a grenade!" she could hear the man yelling as he scrambled down the flight of stairs.

"Come on!" Starbuck said, scrambling up to the door, "We need to get out of here!"

She motioned them to get down the hole and then reloaded her empty magazine after she fired her last rounds into the ceiling as she heard someone yelling above them. Clair made her daughter get down the hole first, and then once she was beginning to descend she too made her way down. Starbuck backed up, keeping tabs on the door and then began crawling down, keeping her guard up as she heard more yelling and then as she went down she saw a stick with a metal bulb was tossed down the stairs and instantly she recognized it.

"Grenade!" she ducked down and then dropped to the floor as the concussion of the explosive went off and splinters and shrapnel went in all directions. Dust flew everywhere and began filtering down as she went into the hole where Clair had snatched up one of the rifles and a bandolier and tossed it to Starbuck.

"You'll need this where we're going," Clair said, holding her own rifle and bandolier as she tossed one of the beds to the side and uncovered a low hall that she went down as her daughter followed her obediently and without question.

Starbuck holstered her own weapon and checked to be sure her rifle was locked and loaded. It was, so she followed the two and closed the way behind her and hunched over and moved as fast as she could. By now she could hear and feel the shudders of explosions going off overhead. Dust rained down as the three of them brushed aside roots from trees and brush growing overhead and finally stopped at what seemed to be a hollowed out tree. Clair stood straight up and slid a latch open and began looking around, trying to find a threat that would prevent their passage.

"It's clear, come on."

In a quick climb Clair made her way up, holding her rifle at the ready as Starbuck pushed little Fara up to join her mother. But it was at that moment that she realized something.

"Frak, I forgot my helmet!"

Kobol, City Ship Olympus

A sudden flash of light was all the warning that the small team on the Olympus got before they saw that they had visitors in the form of Doctor Rodney McKay, Colonel John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, and Teyla Emmagan. They were wearing their usual Atlantis offworld gear, black tactical vests, P90's clipped to them, gray pants and long sleeve shirts, the usual. Well, all except Ronon, who was wearing a leather jacket made from some deadly predatory reptile he'd killed a month ago. He still kept to his personal weapon, his particle magnum.

"Hmm…looks like home huh?" Sheppard said as soon as he'd taken in his surroundings.

"Yeah, sure does doesn't it?" McKay replied, taking out a his tablet and started up the stairs to the control room where he would be able to get to work.

"I don't get it?" Ronon asked, "Why would the ancestor leave this here instead of returning to Earth after the rest of their kind made it back from Pegasus?"

"No idea, apparently Dr. Jackson thinks it has something to do with the city not having ZPM's," Sheppard replied.

The team had been requested to come and assist due to SG-1's rather limited knowledge of city ships and the Atlantis team's extensive experience with them. SG-1 was currently out retracing the path the ancient Colonials might have taken to get to the Stargate that had obviously gotten them off the planet when the ships had left. So they weren't around.

"Alright what do we got?" Rodney said, walking into the main control room where a half dozen tired technicians had been laboring for hours on end trying to get the city up and running.

"Oh g'day Doctor, welcome to Olympus," the man in charge said as soon as he walked in, "Well, would you like the short version or the long version?"

"Uh long please," McKay said, "I need to know everything I'm working with here, or…lack of."

"We've gotten the city's primary systems operational, most of them we've had to start up from scratch. They were completely shut down from the lack of power. The back-up power systems are totally fried, and everything else is just offline. All of our problems stem from not enough power, we've asked for additional naquadah generators but they just won't cut it."

"Okay, thank you, anything else I should know about?" McKay said, tapping away on his pad as he linked in with the city's systems.

"Well, thankfully the city is intact, but that's just from observation from here. We've barely managed to explore the main tower, much less the rest of the city."

"So one of the towers could be completely hollowed out for all you know?" McKay groaned.

"Yes, the city's internal and structural sensors aren't running yet."

"Well I'll take care of that real fast for ya," Rodney said, using his expert knowledge to access the city's systems and quickly powered up the sensors, revealing everything he needed to know about the city's condition, but after he did it he regretted it, "Oh no…"

"McKay? You got anything for us yet?" Sheppard said, "Kinda need to know when this old tub will set sail."

He and the rest of the team from Atlantis had walked up to see what it was that McKay had uncovered so they could come up with a plan to tackle their mission of getting Olympus to Terra Nova where it could be studied and cared for under controlled circumstances in Terra Nova Command's capacious natural bay.

"Sheppard, you may want to see this. We've got a problem," McKay said, his mouth hanging.

"Great, been here for a few seconds and we've already got a problem."

"You see this?" McKay said, pointing at a readout of the city, "Those red marks are cracks in the city's structure. Those points, are the main weight bearing parts of the entire lower section. They're minute cracks, but the thing is, they're in the right place to turn this city into five cities if you try to put any strain at all on them. This city isn't going anywhere, not until we fix these cracks."

"How any cracks are there? I only see a bunch of red marks," Sheppard said.

"Over ten thousand, if we started now we could fix it in about a year. And that's…" McKay's rant was stopped with a quick set of beeps on his tablet, "Oh crap."

"What now?!"

"It's the star drive, the way the ship flies around, it's shattered, even we had the structural integrity to get off the planet we wouldn't have the engine to do it. This city is not moving at all."

"Great, structural integrity compromised no power, no engines, and a ghost running around. All we're missing is the Wraith," Sheppard grumbled.

"Excuse me, um…what about a ghost."

"Oh right, forgot about that."

Deep Space, Battlestar Galactica

The day had been relatively quiet among the ships of the Kobol Expedition Fleet, no unknown contacts, no Cylons. And even the usual suspects for disorder like Starbuck were gone on escort missions with some of the civilian science vessels that had branched out to several different points to get readings, take measurements and other things that had never interested Admiral Adama. So he was in his quarters, reading one of the books he'd gathered for the long term expedition. He had just gotten to very interesting part where the main detective had found a piece of evidence that might have been able to tell him who the prime suspect would have been. At least it would have had his phone not buzzed.

"Bill, we've got a situation, the Raptor has returned from the Surveyor's trip, they're reporting a bird down on the planet," came the voice of Saul Tigh.

"Very well," Adama said, getting up after he marked the spot he was at in his book and got up.

He calmly left his quarters and made his way to the CIC with his normal marine escorting him all the way to his refurbished CIC where the numerous active control stations were manned and working at full capacity. Also there was the man in charge of every Colonial Marine in the fleet, Brigadier General Samuel Kilroy. A big and aggressive man, he was picked for the strict discipline he imposed on his men and himself. He did everything by the book and did it right the first time. He was a skilled commander, having been ranked the top of his class from the very beginning. At the moment he was on the Galactica in full battle dress, as any good Marine would, doing an inspection of the Galactica's marine detachment. He may have been the superior officer to Adama, but he was not in charge, and he knew and accepted that.

"General," Adama said, acknowledging his Marine equal with a respectful salute.

"Admiral, no need to salute me sir, until I can get my boots on the ground you're in charge."

"Sorry, old habits die hard. Saul what do we got?"

"Looks like we've got a Viper down, and Bill, it's Starbuck," Saul said, keeping his voice even.

Adama's gut dropped when he'd heard that. Kara Thrace was, for intents and purposes, his second daughter. When she and Zac had been engaged he and Starbuck were very close for soon-to-be in-laws. She and Kelsey too had become very close friends, with Kara taking the youngest Adama child under her wing and teaching her every chance she got. Now, she was marooned on a planet out there, possibly hurt or dead.

"How'd it happen?"

"That's the odd thing Bill, the report is that the Surveyor found life on the planet, human by the look of it," Saul said, getting an odd look from the two flag officers, "Yeah I know, I did a double take when I heard it myself. But Apollo decided to use the Raptor's camera to get a detailed set of photographs from lower in the atmosphere and they saw some aircraft that Starbuck took an interest in. So she took off after them and was so focused on them she wandered right into a warzone. She took a hit and went down. The Raptor reports that she was alive last they checked."

"Admiral, I can have the Ravager spun up and ready to go by the time I can fly back," General Kilroy stated, plainly offering his services.

"Do it General, you have tactical command of the rescue op," Adama said, getting a nod from the Marine who slightly sprinted over to Dee and relayed orders to the Ravager himself for the Marinestar to spin its FTL up and be ready for a rescue and recovery operation.

"General, you may want to hear this, there's one other thing, an Earth ship showed up, asking why the Surveyor was there, as if they had been monitoring the situation. They said that they can take care of the situation themselves and advised us to stay in orbit. Apollo says the ship's name is Apollo, go frakking figure, and matches with the known specifications of Earth Battlecruisers."

"Admiral, I trust that you don't want them to do this themselves?" General Kilroy asked.

"No, that's a Colonial pilot, hence it will be a Colonial operation," Adama said, "General," he said, extending his hand, "Good luck. Bring our pilot home."

"We will," Kilroy replied, turning and leaving with his small staff right on his tail.

"Wanna send a few escorts? Marinestars aren't meant for ship-to-ship combat," Saul said.

"Wouldn't hurt. Dee, get on the horn with the Battlestar _Cerberus_, tell Commander Paul to get his fighters brought in and to follow _Ravager_ to the _Surveyor_'s last known position."

"Aye sir," the ensign responded.

"I just hope it doesn't come down to a fight," Adama said, knowing full well what an Earth Battlecruiser was capable of.

"Yeah, if those Earth ships are as capable as you say then it would take every Battlestar we've got to match that Earth ship they have out there," Saul said, knowing what his friend had said he'd seen of the Earthers' combat abilities.

"If anything else happens then let me know, I'll be in my quarters," Adama said, feeling a sudden urge to return to his quarters. He couldn't quite figure out why, it just pulled him towards it. It was like a gentle persuasion, he wasn't opposed to going, but he didn't particularly want to. He just did.

"Alright Bill," Saul said, a bit confused at the sudden declaration from his best friend.

Adama quietly made his way back, as always escorted by one of the Marines. He had one thing on his mind, and couldn't get it out of there. So once he arrived at his quarters he knew not why he was there. There wasn't anyone waiting inside, there wasn't anything really special. So when he sat down at his desk he had his brow furrowed, trying to understand the sudden need to be here. Then, he went from being alone, to having company.

A bright light nearly blinded him as he held his chin in his right hand. The light appeared only for an instant before it was gone and replaced with a figure, a human figure. She was not particularly large like a great Amazonian warrior. And she wasn't tiny and frail like a petite fashion model. She wore a white dress, grandly designed with blue decorations of symbols and pictures along the edges of the fabric. Her blonde hair was curled and bounced from her head as her calm blue eyes stared back to him. Her slim pink lips spoke to him with a soothing voice that carried a weight and authority he hadn't expected.

"Admiral Adama, do not be afraid," she said, holding her hand up as if to hold him down.

"Who…who are you?" Adama asked, bringing his hand off of his service pistol.

"I am Athena," she said.

"Athena? As in…"

"Yes," she said with a smile, "The very same."

"How…why are you here?" Adama asked.

"I am here to speak to _you,_" she said calmly sitting down in front of him, but not disturbing the fabric.

"Me? Wh…why me? Why not the President, or a priest I'm just an Admiral."

"Your President is not here, on his way to find Kobol. And a priest would not accept what it is I have to say with their minds as their hearts are still unwilling to hear this for what it is. And you are a wise man, and I know that you believed in us as your Gods, you've always had a more logical mind."

"What are you saying?" Adama asked, now leaning forward.

"I'm saying that you and your people are trying to find Kobol, I would like to help you, but there is only so much I am allowed to do," Athena replied.

"Allowed? You're a goddess! You can't be limited…"

"Admiral, I know you don't believe."

"Well I sure believe now," Adama said back.

"It's clear you and your people have changed little since the great exodus. You still believe us to be Gods and Goddesses. We may seem to be that, if I were in your shoes I'd do the same, but, alas, the curse of our state."

"Your state? What are you talking about?"

"You will find out in time. But do not let your faith or your heart determine what you see as truth. Sometimes the truth sometimes is more painful than it should, but it is the truth."

"Athena? What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing that you won't find out in time. But…all I can tell you good Admiral, is that the truth lies in Olympus, my home, on Kobol. Bring light back to the city, and you will learn the truth."

"How? What can we do to bring l light into Olympus?"

Athena smiled gently, "With these."

With one gentle wave of her arm, a gentle light enveloped a portion of Adama's desk and when it had all cleared he found himself staring at what appeared to be three large glowing crystals. Their very makeup seemed special, an orange light seemed to envelop them, their crystalline structure was held together by black blocky lines that crisscrossed them all across their surface.

"What are they?"

"They are what will return life to Olympus, I entrust these to you, and the children of Kobol."

"How am I supposed to use these? I can't even start imagining what they do."

"You will know, as you knew to come here," Athena said.

"But, what good does this do us if we can't find Kobol?" Adama asked.

"You will find it, the path is laid out for you, follow it, and reclaim the birthright we sought for you and your people."

"And…what of Earth? What do they know of all this?" Adama asked, feeling the question rise from his subconscious instead of his mind.

"They are strong and intelligent; they have fought for many years against the enemies of my people. And that has hardened them. They fear you what you might do should your people know the truth, and will do whatever it takes it keep from the truth," Athena said.

"Keep us from our birthright? Why? What have we done to make them fear us?" Adama stumbled out.

"That is why you must go to Kobol, and by all means you must reclaim the truth what was left for your people."

"Why are you telling me all this? What is it you hope to gain?"

"I only want what I wanted all those years ago, peace. This message is to keep the past from being repeated."

"I understand," Adama said.

"Thank you Admiral Adama," Athena said, glowing once more into a bright light before she vanished from existence, as if she had never existed. But three clues were there for him to see that she was, and what he had just seen was not make believe. But when he went to grab one of the crystals it seemed to dissolve and vanish into mist. The other two did the same, and then left Adama with absolutely no proof that he had seen what he'd just seen. So he took the headset by his desk and rang up the CIC.

"Send Colonel Tigh to my quarters. Something's…come up."

Choros, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command

Doctor Gaius Baltar was, for the first time since his early years of academic research, challenged. And he reveled in it. The data of what the Colonial Intelligence people knew of the Ring of the Lords was amazing. He was at first stumped by it, but soon had learned to deal with the complexity once he started seeing the seemingly unrelated bits and pieces fall into place and start to form a far more total picture. He had his staff, who were astounding scientists and engineers in their own right, had been paired with a set piece of data and a set task. But as head of it all, he had to put it all together. So he started from the ground up. And several hours into the nightmare of numbers, algorithms, and calculations he began getting a good picture of the way that the Ring worked. And the Admiral in charge of the installation had wanted everything he had on the pronto. But Baltar never really went to him, the Admiral came to him in his lab.

It was the most advanced and elaborate laboratory he'd ever found himself entrusted with. In truth it was about sixteen labs with one main area in the center of the square enclosure. On two of the walls were eight sub-labs, each bordered by glass walls and a glass door with the names of the other laboratory assistants, engineers, and scientists all painted on. Inside the large fifteen meter by ten meter labs were the finest computer equipment and lab gear the Colonies made. The labs were stacked one on top of the other, with three on the main floor and three others connected by a walkway that spanned the wall and was connected to an elevator on one side and a dual stairway on the right. On the other sides were offices, meeting rooms, simulation labs, and other items like a storage closet for anything they might need. His own personal office was spacious and luxurious, with a bar, a few couches, a wooden floor, a TV, and a beautiful desk he'd brought over from his own personal office from his last assignment. The other offices were very nice, as nice as his own office but smaller. And in the center of all of this was a large work space where Baltar found himself doing most of his work already. The work area was actually lower than the surrounding area by the doors, with three small steps on the sides by the labs and a pair of ramps adjacent for handicapped access and wheeling heavy loads that may end up in Baltar's lap and the laps of his eighty man and woman team. Banks of computers, dry erase boards, interactive touch screens, and any manner of other items needed for their experiments were at their disposal. But thankfully, Baltar found himself at the self-serve coffee bar in one of the adjacent rooms where the numerous scientists, engineers, and assistants kept up their energy whenever sleep was no option.

"Doctor," Admiral Queens said, walking into the room without even asking to enter, "I trust that you and your people have gotten a decent grasp on the Ring's purpose and function?"

"Why yes Admiral I have," Baltar stated, turning to one of his many screens in the truly massive lab he had at his disposal, "Would you care to see what it is we've discovered thus far?"

"That's why I'm here Doctor," the old man replied, motioning him to move on.

"Of course," Baltar said, moving over to an unused interactive screen. He tapped in a few buttons and moved a few items then in a flash the dark screen had a yellow and orange tinged schematic of the Stargate on it, "As you very well know Admiral the Ring is a type of gateway between what we believe to be identical gates as Earth showed us when they arrived via the Ring for the cultural exchange ceremony."

"Yes I know that, I read the preliminary reports."

"Ah yes, but we have uncovered from the data and texts of the dig on Gemenon is that the way we can determine where we go using the ring is with a combination of these symbols here on the Ring. They're constellations, each one helps narrow down where it is you want the ring to go, but all of that depends on this, the home symbol," Baltar pointed at a symbol that looked like a morphed version of the item that was on the Colonial Seal, "These symbols were on the tablet that was damaged and rendered inoperable. My hypothesis is that that tablet was how the ring was controlled and powered," Baltar said, moving his hands nimbly across the screen showing individual symbols to which he was talking about.

"And what have you done to figure this problem out Doctor, we haven't got a working tablet, we'll have to do this on our own."

"I realize that, but, there is hope. The Earth delegation used a wrist-held device that remotely activated the Ring. This gives me the impression the Ring does not necessarily need the assistance of the tablet, if you give the right amount of power, the right coordinates, and many other scientific variables and necessities the Ring will activate and secure a proper connection with the corresponding ring on the other side."

"So you have an idea of how it connects. How does it transport people and items from place to place?" Admiral Queens demanded.

"That we can only speculate as of now. Without a working model to scan and model off of, we can only theorize."

"Hmph, I thought so, until we can get a hardline connection to the Ring we're only guessing."

"No, theorizing, those are two different things. I have people working on that right now, I can have a…"

"Doc, I want results, that's why all this was built, that's why we put off the s of two frakking Warstars to build this facility. That is why thirty thousand military and civilian personnel are here, we are the front line of exploration and security for the Colonies. Now if you can't get me results within three weeks I'll find someone who can."

"Well then…I can have estimates at when we can try our first dialing sequence by day's end," Baltar said, calming himself down after the rather abrupt ultimatum from the Admiral.

"That's more like it," the Admiral smiled, "I knew that a little push towards losing your job was the right thing to light a fire under your ass."

He gave Baltar a good-natured slug on the shoulder as he left the room and chuckled as he arrived at the sliding hatch.

"Ah, I suppose that I should have seen that coming," Baltar said.

"Yes, you should've. And I expect those estimates by day's end, on my desk."

"Yes sir," Baltar said nodding as the hatch shut tight behind the Admiral.

He shuddered and went to his office, coffee held tight. He hadn't had a single ounce of sleep since arriving here, barely even getting to know his rather attractive new red-headed secretary's name who was sitting in the waiting room before that buffered his own office from the lab. He bid the secretary a polite hello as he walked in, trying to hide the exhaustion he was feeling.

"I'll be working in here for a little while…Miss…"

"Miles, Hanna Miles, Doctor Baltar."

"Ah yes, terribly sorry, it's been rough lately."

"I can only imagine Doctor," she said behind her half circle of clear touch screens and her keyboard that was on her desk.

He opened and closed the door behind him and shut the blinds of the glass door so that he couldn't be distracted as he worked. However he first decided to take a quick rest on one of the couches in front of his desk that faced the TV screen that was tuned to take input from the entertainment channels, news channels, and announcements for the units and specialties of the facility. He closed his eyes once he settled down calmly and took a sip of the hot bitter coffee, enjoying the scalding liquid's passage to his gullet. But as he sat there, he felt an odd presence, a familiar presence.

"Hello Gaius," a sultry voice said from next to him.

He turned his head to see her, and he could not believe his eyes. She was there alright, dressed in a skin tight red dress that ended right where her fingers ended on her thighs, her cleavage was shown in all its sexy glory by the well cut material. Her blonde hair was curled as it usually was, and her eyes scanned him from under black mascara.

"You miss me?"

**Yes, that is ghost Six, not the real one, I'll show you all what happened to the real one in time. Yes, Athena is an ascended being, yes I realize that normally those who've ascended are not allowed to interfere and that too will be explained in time. And how 'bout Starbuck? Been shot down for all of fifteen minutes and she starts a fight! Then again, it is Starbuck, not the most diplomatic of individuals.**

**On a different note, I still want some more entries into the competition which is highlighted at the end of the last chapter. Remember, the reward is co-writing part of a chapter of this story…**

**Well, thanks for reading, please review, I am motivated by the positive reviews and that helps get me going to write more and better chapters for you all.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Colonials take their first step as a power to be dealt with in the galaxy at large. Things get a bit sticky for Starbuck, the Apollo, and the Colonials. The Cylons get their first taste of what is out there, and McKay throws a hissy fit.**


	17. Chapter 17

**This chapter is meant as a place where you all, as well as I, can reference ship classes and fleet strengths. Most of these are just guesses, I do plan on putting a drawing of the CV-307, and the A-309 ASAP to give you an idea of what they look like. So, yeah, here it is.**

**Earth Defense Fleet Ship Classes and Strength**

**Fighters**

**Approximately 500(Active), 2000(In Storage) F-302A Banshee Space Superiority Fighters-**The mainstay of the Earth's space and atmosphere defenses where they are allowed to be. They are fast, tough, and heavily armed. They are however, outclassed in a turning fight by the Colonial Vipers, but are adaptable and will be updated and designated as its successor. It is named the Banshee for its loud howling engine in atmosphere and like the legend it is based on, the Banshee's engine is last thing most hostiles hear due to the experienced and battle hardened pilots and the excellent fire control of the numerous weapons it mounts.

**Approximately 5000(Planned) FA-302B Banshee II Space Superiority Fighters-**The second incarnation of the Banshee is the deadliest known fighter in existence. Its base design on the outside is identical to the older model, but under the skin its far more advanced. It uses a similar system of thrusters to match the maneuverability of the Viper making it an even match to the Viper on its own but along with the other advances, it makes it far superior. Its armor has been supplemented by a shield generator placed where the now unnecessary back seater went behind the pilot. This now halved crew compliment allows the Banshee to be fielded in far larger numbers. It now has mountings for much larger missile racks allowing an improved capacity of ten Space Sparrows. An additional pair of guns has been mounted along with the previously mounted guns and additional ammunition capacity. The biggest difference of the Banshee II is its designation. It is now an attack fighter, with upcoming missile upgrades to allow it to be deadly to hostile capital ships and the added necessity of it to be able to unleash JDAM and JSOW smart bombs on planet side targets.

**Gunships & Recon Ships**

**Approximately 250(Planned) U-**_**3**_**06 ****Ghost Class Long Reconnaissance Ship-**The Ghost is the most vital manner in which the SGC explores and gathers intel. Its cloak is completely undetectable to sensors below the development of the Asgard and Ancients, it has a long range and is further expanded by offworld bases and stationing the Ghosts aboard the Fleet's ships. It is easily flyable, making it well suited to the SG Teams of the SGC. It is very maneuverable and lightly armed for its mission.

**Approximately 500(Planned) A-309 Mohican Class Attack Gunship-**A weaponized version of the U-306, with triple the missiles, and double guns of the U-306. It has the same maneuverability and is tougher than its older version. It also has a large cargo and passenger capacity. It also has a very long range due to its hyperspace generator but the superior shielding and other improved systems of the Mohican mean that cloak is not possible.

**Capital Ships**

**23(Active) 5(Under Construction) 12(Planned) BC-304 **_**Daedalus**_** Class Battlecruisers-**The backbone of the Earth Fleet, the Daedalus class is extremely adaptable, fast, shielded, and deadly. They are very maneuverable for ships of its size and have the same toughness as anything in the galaxy. But their let down are their small fighter compliments as well as their relatively small crew sizes, making it unsuited to large scale planet-side landings where a Stargate is not present.

**3(Active) 2(Under Construction) 3(Planned) BB-305**_** Alaska**_** Class Battleships-**These ships are to be the heavy sluggers of the Earth Fleet, mainly seeking out large numbers of capital ships on their own and be surrounded and then let loose their deadly Asgard Plasma Beams while their faster Battlecruiser escorts pin them in and tear their hostiles apart. But, like their smaller predecessors, their fighter compliments are easily overwhelmed. But due to the nature of its mission to seek and destroy enemy capital ships and the fact that small fighter craft are of no consequence to the ship's very powerful shields mean that it has no need to worry.

**4(Planned) CV-307 **_**Halsey**_** Class Deep Space Carriers-**These craft are a direct answer to the small fighter compliment of Earth ships and the larger ones of their adversaries. They are a similarly built to a Battleship, but longer. Their hangars are much larger and there's a middle one taking up the space behind the bridge with the landing in the rear of the ship, allowing for rapid recovery of fighters while two large exits allow for an equally rapid deployment of their one hundred fighters. But due to its lack of ship to ship plasma beam weapons and its heavy reliance on point defense rail guns and fighter protection this class of ship is not a ship of the line but a command hub for fighter operations from within a protective screen of its accompanying Carrier Task Force, comprising of 2 Battleships and 10 Battlecruisers.

**1(Under Construction) BCV-308 **_**Enterprise**_** Class Battle Carrier Command Ship-**This ship is the overzealous product of everything Earth is capable of. It's sheer size is a direct response to the large, but unlike the Battlestars of the Colonies, this ship is deadlier then it is large. Its massive size automatically means this ship is the Flagship of Earth, and has a fully outfitted CIC just for the purpose of Fleet command and command if its three hundred Banshee strong fighter compliment. The ship itself can do what a Mercury class can do, it has a built in factory to replace any casualties. It's purpose of being a display of power is also aimed at the Jaffa, rogue Ori followers, Lucians, and Wraith. But this ship, being capable of ripping apart anything in the known galaxy has another darker more sinister mission that the top military brass would rather keep under wraps. This capability to fight and destroy anything it wants makes this ship practically invincible because of its massive power generation capacity that allow the shields of this ship to take the brunt of the entire might of any fleet and then send it back with interest.

**Civilian Ships**

**(8 Planned)_Pioneer_ Class Mobile Colony-**A product of the IOA, it is meant to be the first means of colonization for Earth once colonization is viable. It is built similarly to Atlantis, but unlike Atlantis, it has a system of interconnected rings instead of the Ancients' snowflake design. Its main defense is its shield and the ability to make a run for anywhere else but the place of danger. The cities are designed for luxury, capacity, and defense. But, the mere possibility of them being built is a long shot at best, due to them being completely unnecessary and unviable due to the massive demands of their construction. So the future of the Pioneers is in doubt.

**(4 Planned)_Voyager_ Class Scientific/Exploration Ship**-The product of frustrated civilian scientists within the SGC, these rather large and complex ships are meant as the purest essence of scientific purpose with very little weaponry, and its main means of defense being its Battleship grade shields. This type of ship has a massive deep space telescope, dozens of labs, and many facilities for more dangerous experiments that would not be advisable in other circumstances. But, as always, it will have a military escort of selected troops to keep the rather eccentric civilian crew and commanders from putting themselves into unnecessary danger or to take over the defense of the ship should they fall under attack. But unfortunately, the only thing on a lower priority is the Pioneer Mobile Colony.

**Colonial Fleet Ship Classes and Strength**

**Warstars**

_**Olympus**_** Class Warstar (4 Active, 2 Building, 6 Planned)-**The Warstar is an old notion, as good as Battlestars are, they aren't good enough to allow for fleet command of other Battlestars and their own escorts. The Olympus class is specifically designed for the purpose of commanding a large fleet from the midst of massive battles against large numbers of Cylon Basestars. They are massive, even by Colonial standards, and have the capability of taking on a dozen Basestars on their own. Their four hangar bays are capable of holding a full complement of Vipers numbering close to eight hundred at full readiness. These ships are planned to be the final line of defense for the individual colonies if an attack breaks through rapidly before the Fleet can be massed and buy time for the bulk of the Fleet to come to bear.

**Battlestars**

_**Columbia **_**Class Battlestar (35 Active, with 20 of those planned for Decommission)-**Same class as the Galactica and her original eleven sisters. The ones that are meant for decommissioning have been stripped of their frontal batteries and two thirds of their fighter and Raptor compliments.

_**Mercury**_** Class Battlestar (30 Active, 20 Building, 10 Planned)-**Same class as the Pegasus. These Battlestars are bigger and badder than any previous Battlestar class with automated batteries which are aligned more along the flanks and the bow. They are modern and very well endowed with computer equipment and even a factory capable of replacing Vipers lost in combat.

_**Valkyrie**_** Class Battlestar (55 Active, 25 Building, 40 Planned)-**Smaller Battlestar currently being used as a late addition to the Fleet during the first Cylon War due to its adaptability and ease of change in the sleek deadly design it has remained a key part of the Fleet. It is equivalent to Earth's Pocket Battleships of World War II, and are used like them too, whenever they aren't attached to the Battlestar Groups centered around the larger Columbia's and Mercury's, as fast deadly attack ships to be used in hit and run attacks. They tend to follow the mantra of "Outfight what you can't outrun, and outrun what you can't outfight."

**Cruisers**

_**Demetrius**_** Class Light Cruiser (280 Active, 10 Building, 20 Planned)-**New class of Light Cruiser, a cross between a Battlestar and a Destroyer, with the speed of its smaller cousins and comparable firepower to allow it replace its larger cousins in the line of battle should it be called upon. Relies heavily on speed and firepower, and has a small Viper compliment.

_**Loki **_**Class Heavy Cruiser (150 Active, with 25 Planned for Decommissioning)-**Aging class of Heavy Cruiser, most are retrofitted for new advances but due to the expensive manner in which the class has to be modernized, its days are numbered. But it is still a good ship, with larger firepower and armor that allows it to be deadly force in battle, but what it makes it different from a Light Cruiser is its large compliment of Vipers.

_**Protection**_** Class Heavy Cruiser (130 Active, 10 Building, 40 Planned)-**New class of Heavy Cruiser meant to replace the aging Loki's. It is slimmer, and longer, making it inherently more deadly with more weapons emplacements and larger hangar bays.

**Destroyers**

_**Sentry**_** Class Light Destroyer 480 Active, with 130 Planned for Decommissioning)-**Extremely old class of ship, only about as big as the Earth Battlecruiser but barely armored and lightly armed. Most are just waiting to be decommissioned or to be used as training ships for small academies.

_**Runner **_**Class Heavy Destroyer (400 Active, 35 Building, 55 Planned)- **A new innovation for the Colonials, mostly designed for convoy defense against pirates and Cylon ships. Its heavy armaments are on par with that of a Light Cruiser, but its armor and size lets it down. It relies on itself and its own accompanying wolfpack of sister ships and smaller Warrior Class Light Destroyers for defending against superior forces until the fleet they are escorting either bring their superior armaments and Viper squadrons to bear, or their convoy can jump away.

_**Warrior**_** Class Light Destroyer (230 Active, 50 Building, 80 Planned)-**New class designed for the purpose of replacing the relic Sentry class. They are more heavily armored, and far faster, but their weaponry has not changed beyond the type of weaponry to accommodate new advances.

**Marinestar**

_**Chariot**_** Class Marinestar (10 Active, with 5 Planned for Decommissioning)-**A nearly extinct class of ship from the first days of the Cylon War. Most of their sisters had been destroyed, but those that didn't fall in battle were kept in reserve to be used to retake a planet or reinforce a ship's marine compliment if it were boarded. It is the size of a Heavy Cruiser, but not as heavily armed or armored. But it is very adaptable, with the ability to enter an atmosphere and land its compliment of five thousand Marines or Army troops along with their large compliment of vehicles and massive amounts of supplies, equipment, and ammunition.

_**Ravager**_** Class Marinestar (35 Active, 2 Building, 3 Planned)-**The mainstay of the Colonial Marines, these ships are the size of a Battlestar, with massive hangers in the belly to launch large numbers of landing craft along with four to five hundred Vipers and Raptors, depending on the mission. It's larger space means it can hold, at maximum, over eight thousand Marines complete with the vehicles and armored vehicles that the mobility focused Colonial Marines need. But what sets it apart from the Chariots is that it has a much thicker armor belt. Like its older cousins, these ships can land on a planet, and quickly establish prefabricated fire bases along with a main Forward Operating Base.

**Fighters and Utility Ships**

**Viper Mk. II-VI (Approximately 1,500,000, 3,000,000 Building, with 650,000 Planned for Decommissioning)-**The mainstay of the Colonial Fleet, these fighters are cheap, fast, easy to fly, and above all, deadly. The sheer size of their combat wings makes these fighters a true force to be reckoned with. The Battlestar wings are the pride of the Fleet but are not the deadliest. The smaller cruiser and destroyer wings are much more deadly due to their smaller more flexible formations. These craft are also used extensively in the Colonial Navy, Colonial Marine Corp, and Colonial Army, as well as the individual Colonies' Reserves.

**Raptor (Approximately 860,000)-**Although the Raptor is not as glamorous a job as the Vipers are, they are just as important. With dozens of adaptations, mission sets, and specializations, they can have the firepower necessary to rip apart entire squadrons of fighters, or can carry enough humanitarian supplies to feed two hundred people. They are the primary method of inter-fleet transport and are a vital part of the Fleet's everyday operations and big wartime actions.

**Rover Landing Ship (3,000)-**The Rover is the least loved item in the Colonials' arsenal, it is basically a big box with engines and a cockpit. It's the main method of heavy lifting of the Colonials' space to planet and planet to space operations. It is capable of bearing loads up to a 2,000 tons, or five hundred troops, or over twenty armored vehicles such as the Mjolnir Main Battle Tank(Itself capable of holding a dozen troops such as the Israeli Merkava MBT.) and still have room for a full company. But the ability of the Rover to bring down a prefabricated structure, in the stead of the usual large cargo bay, to be used as a firebase in a defensive ring around the main base of operations is what makes it popular with the dirt eaters of the Colonial military, because it means they'll have a dry place to sleep and cover in a fight. It is very fragile though, being extremely susceptible to hostile fire which is why they are heavily escorted by Vipers and Raptors.

**Well sorry if you thought this would be another chapter folks, but I have been out of town and this was all I was able to do while I was gone. Rest assured the next chapter is on the way, I am currently working on it right now, but I felt the need to give you something to let you know that I have not abandoned this story. Also, it is less than two weeks until the contest I described a few chapters ago is concluded. But not one story has been posted for that opportunity. So if you want that chance, you'd better make it quick or else there won't be any co-written chapters.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Listen , I know that last chapter was a bit of roller coaster and that the first draft was a screw-up and the second edited version really threw a lot of people for a loop. So, I decided that I needed this chapter up and going ASAP, so here it is. Hope that it clears a few things up.**

**Chapter 17**

Location: Earth/Colonial Meeting Satellite, Low orbit of Gas Giant Ophion

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 1330 Lima

The rings of the Colonial gas giant Ophion was not a very lively place. It used to be a prime mining belt for exotic metals, but due to strict regulation and eventual banning, the rings had been saved as a Colonial treasure. But, another reason for the strict absence of civilian vessels was that there was a large satellite in orbit of the large planet where three Battlestars, a Mercury class, the Pacifica, and two Valkyrie class, the Scythe and the Demetrius. The three were accompanied by eight support vessels, with dozens of Vipers out on standard patrol. But, they were required to keep a certain distance from the large, dually owned and manned satellite.

The satellite itself was as large as a Battlestar put together, but it was evenly divided in half, drawn right down the middle with a space about fifteen meters across. This space was spanned by four separate clusters of pistons powered by hydraulics on both sides. The hatch that was located in the thin part of the station where the points would be drawn together, sealed then opened for passage. The Earth side was large, basically a large boxlike module, just like the Midway Station but not mostly hollow due to the two Stargates inside of it like its predecessor. But the station also had a few other improvements, such as a shield, weapons, and a hangar for a compliment of four U-306's in place for potential evacuations, recon, and should the need arise, defense. The Colonials' side of the satellite was a copy of the Earth side, except it lacked the technology of the Earth equivalent. It only had basic items like the bare minimum for life support, wireless communication, copies of the Colonial tech, along with running water, heating and cooling. The Earthers ran an umbilical to the Colonial side strung to the Earth side's naquadah generator that was only there until the Colonials could get one of their own power sources aboard and running so that the two of them could coexist connected but self-sufficient. Both of them had a special meeting chamber nestled in between the two stations that was autonomous, with a special pair of hatches on both sides. The meeting room that was in between was a box arranged in a rectangle, twenty feet by fifty feet by twelve feet. Much of it was its autonomous life support system, as well as the equipment that kept it connected to the rest of the two part satellite, but its main attraction was a simple mildly decorated room completely for negotiations and meetings.

At the current moment, however it was unused, simply lying suspended between the two points in space. The Colonials had just gotten themselves settled, with the primary members of their delegation already there, with the security being an agreed to number of thirty men and women from the Government Protection Agency. They were not normally uniformed, as most people saw them with suits and ties with pistols and submachine guns tucked underneath their jackets. But here, they were not taking chances. It was rare that the Colonial Government Protection Agents wore full battle gear, but here every one of them was wearing full combat CQB gear. It was colored a different color than the military versions, being a dark gray, with white letters spelling out "GPA Agent" on their backs. They also had the same weapons as the military, such as assault rifles, shotguns, LMG's, and other items. They also had several Raptors in their own hangar where, at the current moment, a Viper escorted Raptor had touched down with the delegation leader and their latest communique.

"Mister Illian," the only woman on the three person delegation, Jennifer Ryding, said as the older white haired man walked into the hallway from the hangar. Behind him were several different aides and a few additional security members, "Welcome to the…"

"Miss Ryding, I'm going to have to stop you right there, I have a set of documents and orders from the Quorum for us to get to work. We need to read this."

The two other delegates looked at one another and followed their superior to the briefing room, passing some technicians working on patching the rather primitive wiring that had been acting up since they had been going through with installing a new power grid. A few security teams were on a standard patrol and standing guard as a few others followed them. But then the group of delegates went right into a secured room where they instantly locked themselves in to open the classified documents.

"So what is it we've been told to do?" Jasen Ransom, the youngest member of their team asked once they had sat down and the papers were passed out.

"Read this and you'll find out."

_CLASSIFIED_ _TOP SECRET:_

_By order of the Quorum of Twelve, negotiations are to commence with the delegation of Earth to ascertain the following objectives for the good of the Twelve Colonies of Man and for the good of the people of Earth._

_These objectives are categorized according to the importance in which you are to pursue. Although the objectives and goals of this document and your orders are all of the utmost importance, you must achieve these goals in the order that they are in._

_1. Ascertain the location of Earth. This is the key to the entire negotiation and everything depends on this. If we don't have knowledge of Earth's location and the location of their colonies if they have them, then hardly anything in this list can be achieved._

_2. Gain basic or advanced trade rights to Earth markets. The groups of primary interest to this goal are car manufacturers, media industry, shipping industry, energy industry, technology industry, and the military. In the event this is done and agreed to, arrange for a common method of currency. Once this is done, assessing the possibility of a protected trade route is of vital importance to the safety of the potential merchantmen traversing the space between the Earth and the Colonies._

_3. Gain the ability to build an embassy on Earth or an orbital station in Earth's solar system for the purpose of diplomacy, economic development of Colonial interests, and intelligence gathering._

_4. Gain an audience with Earth's leaders and people for the President of the Colonies to address them, this event is to take place on Earth, in the public eye of Earth, and nowhere else under no other circumstance. Those are the conditions of this meeting._

_5. Negotiate for a trade of technology with Earth. The technologies in Earth's possession that are to be acquired are in this order: Shielding Technology, Faster-Than-Light Technology, Weapons Technology, Long Range Communications Technology. The items you are authorized to trade are: Computer Technology, Weapons Technology, Captured Cylon Centurions, Cylon Data/Programs, and quantities of Cubits not to exceed 53,850,000 Cubits._

_6. Explore the possibility of a unification of the Government of the Colonies with the Government of Earth. This is expected to be a long term goal and is not expected to be achieved in a single meeting. But the expectations of the Quorum is that Earth expresses interest in the possibility of being an equal member of the Colonies. _

_7. Arrange for a news tour of an Earth warship or facility as this will provide the people with a more human and personal insight of the people of Earth._

_8. Secure map data of Earth's exploration of the galaxy._

_9. Secure a complete file and data on the potential of life outside of our systems and any hostile entities._

_These objectives and goals are yours to pursue with any methods or approaches you see fit. The Quorum expects that you will achieve some of these goals, but will not accept outright rejection of these proposals due to the highly generous nature of the offers and trade potential for both parties._

_Sincerely, Delphi Tellar, Chairman of the Quorum of the Twelve_

The three of them looked at the papers in front of them, and then reread them. What they had been told to do was actually what they had expected to be doing, but not so soon. They expected an order to ascertain the location of Earth, and maybe explore the possibility of a meeting between the leaders of Earth and President Adar. But all of that added to trade deals, technology trades, and a unification of Earth and the Colonies was crazy at best and at worst grounds for Earth packing up and leaving straight away.

"Well, shall we get to work?"

"Work? This…this is impossible, where are we going to start?"

"From the bottom up with what we know can be achieved. I know that much of this is seems to be a bit outrageous. But you must understand the current situation."

"The situation? What situation?"

The older man took a deep sigh and leaned forward against the table the three of them were meeting at, "As you two know the economy hasn't been looking too hot for the past several years. But with the emergence of Earth, the stock market and the larger economy has grown in confidence and vastly improved. But this is only a façade, the real situation is deeply troubling. The future of the economy is completely dependent on a vast increase in trade, a massive inflow of currency, and basically a massive new market to sell into. It's effectively a bubble, and if it bursts it will send us into a depression far worse than anything that we have ever seen. That is why we have to make this work."

"And this technology trade? What is it that we are supposed to do? Get their shields? Weapons? FTL's? Since when did the movie makers have a say in the diplomatic process?" Ms. Ryding asked.

"It is true, the Earth's military capacity for technology has far surpassed our own. The Fleet is demanding that we get that stuff. Those FTL's of the Earthers' could be the key to a massive expansion of Colonial space and further colonization. Their shields, can make the Fleet invincible to the Cylons, and their weapons could forever annihilate those metal monstrosities should they return."

"And this…unification? If Earth has done all this then what good would it do them to mingle with us and give up a sovereignty they seem very capable of keeping without us."

"Ha, the Earth is but one planet, their people, however advanced, need our resources. They are bound to us by an ancient past that they cannot deny. It is the will of the Lords that they should return to the fold."

"But what if they don't? Has it occurred to anyone to think of why Earth went out on its own? Maybe there was a very good reason for them to not be part of the Colonies…"

"That is blasphemy Miss Ryding, the Sacred Scrolls are not to be questioned. Earth left because that is what the Lords willed, and by their will, they have returned, so we shall bring the rest of the way."

The two younger subordinates looked at one another, completely shocked at the turnaround of their superior. Their job was not one where religion was to be a deciding role, but here, it had taken precedence. Both of them swallowed the fear of what the future might hold, and what sort of response or outright refusal would be thrown back in their face.

In Orbit Around Frencalis, USS_ Apollo_

The situation was, in a word, tense. The Colonial surveillance vessel had been politely asked to stay in high orbit while the Apollo desperately tried to scan the planet for any sign of the Colonial pilot, but it was like finding a needle in a stack of slightly larger needles. They just couldn't do it without the pilot calling and then using her transmission as a way to single her out and beam her up. However, things had turned a bit more tense with the arrival two large Colonial warships who had instantly deployed dozens of fighters and small craft without giving Colonel Ellis a chance at being able to even hail them.

"Contact, make two Colonial warships!"

"I see them, get them on the line before they're spread out too far for us to handle."

"I'm trying to sir," the Major said, tapping away at his console.

Ellis watched the dots of metal in the near distance spread out in the inky black of space as the two large ships in front of him closed in on the planet he had positioned himself in low orbit of. But they weren't slowing down as their Vipers flew right by him, staying well away as the two ships angled to move around the Apollo.

"They're responding sir…"

"This is Brigadier General Kilroy of the Colonial Marine Corp, I have orders to retrieve our pilot from the planet and I will obey my orders."

"This guy sure gets to the point," Ellis whispered, wishing he had a real diplomat present instead of him, "This is Colonel Ellis of the Earth Defense Ship Apollo. I have orders to assist in the recovery of your pilot. But those orders stipulate that I keep you and your people off of the planet."

"Colonel, I don't know how you rescue your pilots when they go down on a planet, but we send down birds to extract them with support craft to secure the area to ensure the safety of the rescue team."

"Then you clearly you don't. We don't need to deploy anything to recover our personnel, because our technology allows us that flexibility. I have permission to use that technology to extract your pilot, which will allow you to mitigate the risk to your own craft and personnel," Ellis responded, trying his best to be tactful and not upset the Colonials, "Now please keep your ships in a higher orbit than mine."

"As much as I appreciate your offer Colonel, I have orders to keep to my own resources. You've rescued our people twice before, as much as we appreciate that, we can't just lay back and depend on you. We're a proud people, and this is our mess and we intend to clean it up. I will keep your offer in mind and I will make do with your help with finding her, but when it comes to actually bringing our pilot up and out, that we will do on our own."

Ellis turned as he heard his XO call out, "Sir, I just managed to unscramble the radio chatter on the planet. It looks like there really is a big fight going on sir, there's a lot of traffic. But their radio signals are near matches to Colonials' it's gonna be tough to pick out if that pilot tries calling home."

"See what you can do," Ellis ordered, "General I assure you that we can bring her out. Once we've pinpointed her location we'll have her on board our ship and you can send over a bird to pick her up and you can leave to rendezvous with your fleet."

"Colonel, my orders are clear cut. We pull out our pilot, you can help with pinpointing her location for us. But when we have a definite location our birds are going down there. General Kilroy out."

"Shit…" Ellis said, turning off the transmission from his end, "This is not what I'm paid to do. Get me Earth, this is out of our league. I'm gonna have someone else try their hand at talking to these people. If there's gonna be a war I'm not going to start it."

"Yes sir."

Battlestar _Galactica_, Kobol Expedition Fleet

"Sir, the expedition leaders have arrived," a Marine Lieutenant walked in saluting Admiral Adama.

"Show them in please Lieutenant," Adama ordered taking off his glasses from reading a report from the gunnery chief about the latest mechanical glitch on the forward battery.

"Yes sir, gentlemen, ladies, the Admiral will see you now."

In walked half a dozen civilians, representing the major components of the Kobol Expedition. There was one person for command of the civilian portion of the fleet who dealt with all manners pertaining to the everyday operation of the Fleet aboard the largest civilian vessel the Super Liner Whispering Star. His name was Derrick Tolland, he was the unfortunate man who dealt with the seventy ship civilian fleet of tankers, supply ships, liners, science vessels, equipment vessels, mining vessels, the five botanical cruisers, and other miscellaneous ships. There was also a religious leader by the name Priestess Selma Ryan, representing the historians who were helping to map out a possible route and location for Kobol, there was an archaeologist by the name of Felix Warren who was the finest expert in the art of grave robbing and searching out the location of lost treasures and whatnot. There was one for deep space telemetry, Dr. Deadrick Leon, another man for engineers, Franklin Henderson, that as in charge of being able to make sense out of anything they found, and a few aids to these people of whom none had been aboard the Galactica. Each of them was in their civilian uniform, as they were in the flagship of the big man in charge, but the Priestess had on a purple and gold clothe that was a symbol of her seniority as a member of the clergy. So they were a little shell shocked to see the inner workings of the armored titan that guarded their fleet.

"Welcome aboard the Galactica ladies and gentlemen, sorry that this meeting had to come at such short notice but there's been a development," Adama started.

"What sort of development Admiral?" Tolland asked.

"You may want to sit down for this, but we've encountered a habitable world. A world inhabited by humans."

"What?! A world of humans? Are they pirates…or are they…" the religious expert said out loud but was cut short by Adama.

"They're not anyone who know of the Colonies. Our intelligence puts them at a level of development nearly two centuries behind us. It's clear these people are not Colonial, or Earth for that matter. But apparently they've got enough know how to shoot down one of our Vipers by accident when we got a little too close."

"That's outrageous Admiral!" one of the civilians protested, "There has been no proof of other human worlds outside our own and Earth. What is to say these people are who you think they are."

"More importantly, these people acted in aggression towards a Colonial fighter, shooting it down. This is unacceptable. A counter strike must be planned at once…"

"Listen priestess, you stick to your books and let me deal with the consequences of the loss of our Viper. These people are already at war against another power on their planet, we were in the wrong for intruding into their air space and suffered the consequences. What must be done now is to establish that our pilot is alive and can be recovered alive."

"Is that why the Marinestar and one of our Battlestars left? On a rescue mission?"

"You sent those ships without telling us? What gives you the…"

"This insignia on my collar and the orders I have from the President give me that authority, just as your orders give you authority over the actual exploration and excavation of Kobol when we find it."

"Nonetheless, I can say with a certain degree of certainty my colleagues would have liked a head's up or something."

"Noted," Adama said, "But that isn't the entire reason I have called you down here."

The civilians all looked at Adama with a curious expression on their faces.

"What reason would that be?"

Adama took a deep breath, "I believe that Athena has appeared to me with a vision. She told me of three important artifacts that will be needed to quote, 'bring light back to Olympus' I do not know exactly what this means but we can guess. Which is why you're here."

"A vision?! Admiral are you certain?"

"Yes, there is no mistaking what is was I saw. A woman in ancient robes with golden hair claiming to be Athena. She appeared in a flash of light, and then left in the same way. She showed me three crystalline objects that glowed a dull dark orange. They seemed to be about this tall and this big around," Adama said, gesturing with his hands, "And she said it was with these that we would be able to bring light to Olympus. Now, I am not well versed in the Scrolls, that is your job."

"Well…do you have anything else I can use to draw up a decent conclusion? I mean, Athena didn't appear to me," the priestess said, a bit flabbergasted.

"There's a report of what was said to me waiting on you."

"Good, I'll see what wisdom has been left that can link to what Athena has said."

"I want a full report on your findings in three hours."

"Admiral," Henderson, the engineer said, "These crystals, do you have any other information on them?"

"I tried drawing what they looked like as best I could, that's in the report as well."

"Ah…I think I may have a theory on what they are, if I may?"

"Put it in your report Henderson, I want everything you can interpret from those reports and have them in three hours ready for us to go over in detail. What Athena has said is important, whether it is the direction of Kobol, an important item on Kobol, or something else entirely I want to know every fact we can glean. Dismissed."

The gathered civilians were a little hesitant with the gruff military manner in which they had been told to leave and slowly got the message that they were now on the clock to get their new jobs done. So one by one they filed out and left, grasping a few file folders being handed out to them by Admiral Adama's attaché, a young ensign.

But there were a few things in those files that were purposely left out. Athena had told Adama to be weary of Earth and its people because of their level of advancement and their own fear of the Colonies. This could easily be misconstrued by the civilians as Earth being hostile and waiting to destroy them. Although not one of the civilians among their fleet had any knowledge of the capabilities of Earth's forces and the potential damage they could cause the threat of attack from someone thought to be a kindred ally and blood brothers and sisters would have totally thrown the fleet into chaos and then if they met Earth things could get ugly, very ugly.

Deep Space, Cylon Shadow Fleet

The Cylons didn't take very long in finding the large Colonial Expedition, but as they'd been told, they kept their distance, and waited. There were eighteen Basestars floating together around their only Resurrection Ship that was allowed to them. The large formation of capital ships was quite easily capable of dealing with the Colonial Fleet and was quite willing to do so after the loss of three Basestars weeks before at the hands of five vastly superior Earth warships. But, orders were orders, the Colonials were not to be touched, let alone destroyed in detail. Besides, the three newly outfitted Colonial Battlestars would have badly bruised their ships.

The old Columbia's weren't thought of as much of a threat, but still respected. These were the ships that brutalized the Cylons in battle after battle in the first war after all. So they'd designed their new Basestars to stay well away from their Colonial adversaries and use long range missile strikes to destroy their targets and use their Raider squadrons to try and open up holes for them to slip in nuclear warheads that could decimate their intended targets. But, as their calculations and simulations showed, if a Colonial Battlestar closed in a one on one fight then they would be ripped to shreds by the heavy kinetic rounds while the thick barrage of flak would swat away their missiles and cause little damage with those that got through. That was the point of the CNP virus that would disable every Colonial ship, save the odd Columbia or older cruisers of destroyers. But now that it was useless due to the Earthers' seeing it and then relaying this to the Colonials who promptly shut down their network quietly and effectively regained the strategic advantage. So the coming attack on the fleet of Colonial ships would be a test of the Cylon Baseships and if their tactics and technology would be a match for their old adversaries.

But at the moment, the Cylon fleet was waiting and watching. A rather odd occurrence had been picked up, two of the larger Colonial ships, the Battlestar Cerberus and the Marinestar Ravager, had jumped away. This gave several Cylons the idea to seek out and destroy these two ships, but the argument of the arrival of the other twenty Colonial warships would severely deplete their force and gain them nothing put them off, but then the sight of the most feared ship known to them put all of them on edge, one of their Raiders had caught sight of an Earth Battlecruiser in orbit of the same planet as the two missing Colonial ships. They really couldn't get a clear DRADIS scan without coming into range of the single Earth ship, so instead relied entirely on visual data gathered by the complex eye of the Raider. But what they saw was evidence enough to leave the Colonials well enough alone.

But the current delay among the Colonials was really starting to frustrate the Cylons, and the meeting aboard Basestar # 132 was reflecting that.

"What are those Colonials doing that would take this long?" a Four asked, "I can only take this waiting for so long."

"Be patient sister, all will happen according to God's plan," another Five said.

"And besides, what would you do? Take on that Earth vessel on your own?"

"Besides, we have yet to reach our advance Basestar at the next waypoint, we should be jumping right about…"

And with that the Basestars all jumped in a series of flashes. Their destination, a small body of potentially tylium rich rocks where they would be able to leave one of their own accompanying excavators to start extracting the precious fuel. Once it was extracted, refined and loaded, it would be transported to the Colony or any other of their large stockpiles of resources that the Cylons had been hoarding for themselves. They had sent a couple of Basestars to check to see if the coast was clear before jumping in themselves and had waited the allotted time to determine that there was no danger to the Resurrection Ship and the Fleet at large.

So, in a series of blinding flashes, the eighteen Basestars regrouped with their other two sisters and settled into a formation, but then they received some surprise visitors.

Lucian Alliance Hat'ak Class Mothership, en route to possible resource field

The Lucian Alliance had not been in as dire a straits as the Jaffa and Taur'i thought. But the Jaffa had inflicted grievous damage on the Lucian Alliance, but these advances and attacks were superficial. Very little real damage had been done to the fleets of ships and resources that the Lucian Alliance held close and kept well concealed. Many hundreds of motherships, Alqueshes, Teltaks, and tens of thousands of Death Gliders were waiting for their own moment to strike back after the Jaffa had launched a well-coordinated series of assaults against Lucian kassa farms, mines, and suspected caches of weapons and supplies. But to do that, they would need naquadah, of which they had little. True their hit and run attacks had liberated great quantities of the material, but they still needed more. So they had several groups of ships scouring the galaxy to find as much as possible and mine, steal, or trade for every drop.

That was why the three ship formation was currently starting to power down their hyperdrives to see if a formation of rocks was filled with the desired material. It was the hope that the young Lucian commander, Ryle Freit, a long standing member of the Alliance, that it would be enough to get himself a higher standing that he could use to further rise through the ranks.

"Commander, we are nearing the coordinates," his second in command called out from his station at the controls of the ship.

"Drop us out of hyperspace and have the sensors ready to start scanning for naquadah."

"Yes sir," the man replied, and started smoothly running his hands back along with the duel blue galss orbs.

Within a second the trio of Lucian ships dropped out of hyperspace right in front of a massive field of rocks and something else. A massive formation of twenty one ships all arranged around a single longer ship built in a totally different manner. Their ships were massive compared to his own vessels who were weakly manned and barely running due to their skeleton crews.

"Sir! What are…"

"What makes you think I know?! Hail them, I wish to know who they are and what they're doing in our territory."

"Hailing sir."

"Attention unknown vessels, I am Commander Ryle Freit of the Lucian Alliance, I demand that you identify yourselves. Your refusal would be unwise."

"Commander, I'm reading thousands of smaller signatures, they're fighters."

"Any sign of a response."

"No sir they're…wait…"

"What is it?" Ryle demanded.

"I am detecting a low frequency transmission, I believe it is coming from one of their ships. But it's coming in audio only," the officer said, receiving a nod from his commander.

"This is Ena of the Cylons. Your threat is unnecessary as we mean you no harm."

"Who are you? I have never seen your ships nor heard of the Cylons," Ryle replied.

"I did not expect you to. Our people are just beginning to explore deeper into the farther corners of space. Perhaps I could show you?"

The sultry voice coming over the speaker got the single Lucian's attention, and the attention of his crew. The instincts of humanity are strong, and the men could sense the inherent feminine voice meant no harm or could be a future ally, or lover. So, ignoring his better logical judgment, the Lucian commander cleared his throat and spoke with a calm voice meant to show a mood of confidence and strength.

"I would be honored."

Frencalis, Xeno Occupied Territory

The mad dash to thick woods was exhausting, especially in full flight gear_. Apparently it wasn't designed for ground combat_, Starbuck growled to herself as she leaned back against a thick tree in a slight gulley in the nice cool shade. The days here were hot it turned out, and not just hot, but humid. And the gusts of sea driven wind to the East didn't help alleviate the mugginess whatsoever.

"Thirsty?" the young Fara asked, holding out a tin canteen for her.

"I'm fine," Starbuck said politely, shifting her weight slightly accidentally knocking over her rifle that was given to her.

"Mommy says that I should drink water all the time so that my legs don't hurt," the little girl said, pushing the water towards her again.

"You're persistent aren't you?" Starbuck asked, taking the canteen, but stopped before drinking it as the staccato tapping of machine gun fire echoed out nearby.

"That one was close," Starbuck mumbled, holding the metal container in her hand as she reached for the rifle.

"Relax, their still a ways away. Probably going the other direction," the voice of Starbuck's new guide and friend spoke up, startling her.

"Frak how do you do that?" Starbuck growled.

"Easy, practice, to do what I've done for five years if you can't you're dead."

"No kidding."

"Well at least warn me next time you try sneaking up on me alright?" Starbuck asked, resting the rifle I her lap.

"I'll try to remember."

"Well how far away from friendly lines would you say we were?"

"Difficult to tell, but judging by the gunfire and explosions I'd say not too far," Clair said, looking off into the distance as more gunfire echoed out in the distance.

"Good, because my ankle is killing me, so the sooner…" she started saying but was instantly cut off by loud machine gun fire ripping through the air above them, sending leaves, sticks, and bark flying.

Fara screamed loudly as the trio was ambushed and dove into her mother's arms as the two women ducked down, trying to grab their rifles.

"They caught up with us! Find some cover!" Clai ordered, shoving Fara down into a burnt out hole onto the ground by the tree.

Starbuck nodded, grasping her rifle and turned to face her attackers. She poked her head up to see that a large armored vehicle with the front end of a normal car but was all armored up. Dozens of gray uniformed troops carrying rifle similar to hers were rushing forward, occasionally plopping down to a knee to take a shot. Starbuck grinned at the way her foes were exposed and tucked the rifle into her shoulder and took aim. The feel of the weapon was somewhat familiar, but still odd. Her eyes sighted along the rifle and picked out a single man that was starting to set up a water cooled machine gun along with two other men. They were bunched up nicely making it an easy shot. So with one deft pull of the trigger she felt the hefty kick and saw a spray of dust from the soldier's dirty uniform go up and him crumple down. She felt the satisfaction making the shot and tried working the smooth botl action of the rifle to get another round chambered and aimed again, firing another well placed round. This time her target was merely wounded with a shot to the leg.

"Lieutenant!" Clair called out, pointing to a massive crashing mess of trees falling into the clearing in front of them, "We need to get out of here!"

"Why?"

But before Starbuck could get a verbal answer she got a visual one. A massive tank hoisting a large turret with a single large gun smashed through the treeline and started swiveling its gun to bring it to bear on them. Bullets snapped and popped all around as Clair shimmied down into the bottom of the gulley and pulled her daughter off the ground. But as Starbuck went to join her a massive concussion lifted her off her feet and sent her down into the ground by the two natives. She was dazed, her ears were ringing, and her vision had gone all double. However as she tried to get up off the ground she saw numerous figures coming from the clearing towards her. Their weapons were aimed and ready.

_This is it_, Starbuck whispered in her reeling mind.

But then, to her immense surprise, every one of them suddenly dropped down as bullets went lancing towards them. A small round object flew over them and detonated behind the group of hostile soldiers. The dull popping of rifles and machine guns echoed in her head, thundering louder and louder until she saw the figure of a single man in dark green standing over her, holding a rifle different than the ones being held by the soldiers that had attacked them. She saw several of them grab Clair and pull her to her feet and start pulling her away while another picked up Fara off of the ground and ran towards the same way as the green uniformed soldiers had come. They began ducking in cover as the tank advanced towards them with its turret swiveling to pick up the new hostiles. Starbuck then felt a sudden pull on her arms as she was lifted off the ground and looked to see a pair of soldiers dragging her away with more of them coming up from behind. A sudden explosion behind them on the lip of the gulley sent three of their comrades flying through the air and crashing to the ground nearby.

"Lieutenant!" the echoing sound of Clair called, "Get up!"

"Ma'am! You have to get moving!" one of the soldiers said, yanking her to her feet as her senses finally realigned.

Starbuck wordlessly responded, shrugging off her rescuers and stumbled towards Fara and Clair who were lying on the ground as a dark menacing shape of another tank, this one even bigger, rolled up behind them along with more infantry. They were waving her over as the battle raged around her and she quickly joined them as a trio of green uniformed Jaran troops shepherded them along to the rear out of danger.

She was not about to question or refuse this type of generosity, so she booked it as bullets, shells, and dust from the now numerous advancing troops and tank scattered all over the place. Soon though she was in the woods where the soldier holding Fara returned her to her mother and then returned to the front. A pair of medics wearing a white band with a red line through it ran forward and started going over the two of them as Starbuck looked on at the battle currently in progress in the near distance.

"You," a gruff voice called out from behind her.

Starbuck whirled around to see a practical wall of troops holding rifles standing in behind her, "Me?"

"Come with us."

Starbuck had only one thing to say to this order.

"Frak."

Kobol, Ruins of the City of the Lords

SG-1 had been scouring the ruins of the ancient and very dead city for a long time. Several hours had gone by without them finding anything at all. There was nothing but cold bog, stone pillars, and a few insignificant artifacts that only Daniel found fascinating. Vala had gotten bored, Mitchell was irritated, and Teal'c was…Teal'c. They had help of course, a surveillance team specializing in searching through ruins and places like this were now all over the place with a few tents and tin buildings set up for labs, medical assistance, and communications. Another SG- Team had come through, a Russian one, armed a bit too heavily for a simple security mission with brand new AK-12's supplemented with hybrid sights, vertical grips, drum magazines, laser pointers, flashlights, and other miscellaneous items.

At the moment the Russians were at the tent set up for keeping the members of the science team and two SG-Teams fed, resting on a fallen column under a makeshift pop tent. One was working a long range UAV that had been ferried over to them for long range aerial recon. Meanwhile Mitchell and the rest of SG-1 were resting next to the Russians, watching the screen for anything that might interest them.

"So Jackson, what exactly do you hope to find here?" Mitchell asked as the UAV continued on and kept track of what appeared to be a large flat bog with a few other ruins scattered in the lowlands.

"Well anything really, writings, an underground access tunnel to an intact chamber where that city's missing ZPM's might be hidden away. You know, stuff like that."

"Ooh…mystic treasure…" Vala cooed, thinking of all the potential valuables that were potentially there waiting to be picked up.

"Maybe, but judging by the state of these ruins I'd say that was unlikely at best."

"But we did find that City Ship, that's worth something ain't it?" Mitchell asked.

"Yeah but if what McKay told us is true that thing isn't going anywhere."

"Oh yeah, there's that," Mitchell grumbled, looking back at the UAV feed.

"Speaking of which what do we do about that? We can't just leave it for those Colonials to find," Vala asked through mouth full of granola bar.

"If McKay can't fix it then we take a Mark Nine and vaporize it, simple as that."

"Whoa whoa! You can't seriously be considering that can you?" Jackson asked, very disturbed at what that could mean.

"Yes I am, and I'm fairly sure that General O'Neill and General Landry will agree with me."

"Yeah Jack would, then he'd have Sam work a miracle and we'd fly away and then crash it two days later," Jackson replied, remembering their little incident with a Hat'ak they'd crashed into the North Pacific.

"Well Carter isn't here, we're just gonna have to make do with citrus boy up there in his little home away from home…"

The radio interrupted him suddenly with the voice of Colonel Sheppard on the line, "Colonel Mitchell this is Sheppard, do you copy?"

"Speak of the devil, this is Mitchell, what do ya got Sheppard?"

"We've uh…found something Dr. Jackson may want to see."

**Well, sorry about the wait, being out of town tends to effect some things and starting over several times does that even more. As you can see I have set you guys up for a few explanations as well as a few cliffhangers. Because that's how I roll. Thanks for reading, please leave a review and tell me what you think.**

**Next Chapter Preview: Things take a turn down a familiar path on Kobol. The Colonials make their move to rescue Starbuck. And oh you stupid Lucians, what have you gotten yourselves into!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, another one is here. I had planned to make Athena's contact with Adama to happen last chapter but word count and Starbuck's situation surpassed that and by the time I got around to explaining it I had reached my word count maximum so I simply set that part up for you guys to dwell on. This chapter will basically pick up where the last one left off.**

**Chapter 18**

Location: Kobol, City Ship Olympus

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 1800 Lima

The quick trip via shipboard transport beaming on the Aquila took all of a minute from placing the call and then arriving on the Olympus's control room. What Colonel Sheppard had called for seemed to be important, so SG-1 had arrived quickly, and waiting for them were their counterparts from Atlantis. McKay seemed a little bit frazzled, Ronon seemed pissed, Teyla seemed confused, and Sheppard looked very concerned.

"Colonel," Mitchell greeted.

"Colonel," Sheppard replied.

"So what is it you wanted us to see?" Jackson asked, clasping his hands together, eager to see what it was that they wanted to show them.

"Well, it's sorta complicated," Sheppard said walking up towards the hologram room.

"In what way?" Mitchell persisted.

"Well, I was fishing around, bored out of my skull, trying to find out some intel and I came across the city database's final recording. And when I played it seemed to be…"

"Weird?" McKay piped up.

"Yeah I was gonna say off but weird works."

"Weird in what way?" Vala asked.

"Well…McKay?"

"Well what?"

"You were the one who noticed it, you tell them."

"What?"

"McKay!" Mitchell yelled, quite tired of the useless arguing.

"Oh right," he said, "Well I was looking through the city's database, looking for any logs or damage reports left by the Ancients after the initial attacks on the city. And I found something rather odd. A data entry from an Ancient by the name of Zeus."

"Zeus, the husband of Hera, and the father of most of the other Colonial patron gods and goddesses," Jackson mumbled out as if on instinct.

"Jackson, these Ancients probably weren't all related," Mitchell grumbled.

"You never know, if the Gou'ald copied the names of these Ancients it would stand to reason that they named their descendants the same as the Ancients did their own kids."

"Whatever," Mitchell said, "You were saying McKay?"

"Oh yeah, anyway, I decided to you know, take a look. But as I turned it on, and the guy spoke he uh…stared at me."

"He stared at you?" Vala chided.

"Hey it was creepy!"

"Wait a minute, show me," Jackson ordered, and followed McKay up the steps into the hologram room with SG-1 and SGA-1 in tow.

"Oh by the way, I now have this Stargate set as the dominant gate on the planet. It turned out that the control crystal was removed. Just had to pop it in and poof, no more Stargate in the middle of the wilderness."

"Good to hear, we don't care right now."

"Here, I paused the recording at the beginning, thought you'd like to see it for yourself."

"Alright, let's see here…"

With a few taps the recording started, and in front of them materialized a man, wearing a white robe, and a golden crown of olive branches. He seemed regal and proud, just like an Ancient, but he spoke with a resigned sadness in his voice.

"This, will be my last entry to the Olympus Database," he started, "Our attempts at repairing the city's internal structure to make it space worthy have been futile. The damage caused from the Tylium Bombs employed by the humans have been devastating, and their fleet has made sail for a new home as directed by my daughter, Athena. Those unable or unwilling to follow them into space are being sent through the Stargate for new homes on which to settle. Earth's people are gone, their ships left the range of our sensors many years ago, and their transmissions back to Kobol have ceased. Our attempt to leave a guardian and care taker for this galaxy has failed."

"Well that's depressing," Vala said glumly as Jackson watched the recording continue.

"Before we sent the people through gate, we gave them our zero point modules, to safe guard them against any attempts to power Olympus until the time was right for Humanity to fulfill its potential, as we seemed to have pushed them too far, too fast, and paid the consequences in the blood of many thousands."

"See right there, he's staring at us," McKay pointed out.

"Yeah he is," Jackson said, taking off his glasses, "I've seen it before."

"You have?" Teyla said, a bit bewildered.

"Yeah, the last time I was on Atlantis Morgan le Faye spoke to me through the holographic projector. And Zeus, if this is him, is doing the same thing."

Then, the eyes of the glowing white robed man turned to rest on Jackson, "You are as observant as Morgan said Doctor Jackson."

Ronon, not too comfortable with any of this, began inching his hand to his Particle Magnum in its holster.

"Rest easy Ronon Dex, son of Sateda," Zeus said, without even looking at the big man.

"Excuse me?" Ronon gasped.

"You have nothing to fear from me. We have been watching you, we had high hopes for you and your people. There were many who believed it would be Sateda that would rise and claim the mantle of responsibility as guardians of the Pegasus Galaxy and drive the Wraith into extinction. But sadly, it was not meant to be."

"Yeah, well why didn't you help then? If you had such a soft spot for Sateda why didn't you keep us from being annihilated at the hands of the Wraith?" Ronon snapped.

"It was against our laws to interfere."

"Yet you are interfering now?" Teyla noted, getting a warm grin from Zeus.

"Yes."

"Then why haven't you been…you know…whooshed away like Morgan was?" Vala asked.

"Because they can't stop me or any of my family."

"How? How are they not able to stop you?" Mitchell asked, or more like demanded.

"Doctor Jackson is holding the reason in his hand," he pointed.

"Of course," Jackson said, holding up his laminated copy of the Sacred Scrolls, "It's the Colonials, they worship them! How else would they have the power to interfere and not be whisked away. And if there are twelve of them then they could potentially do just about anything they want."

"Not anything," Zeus corrected, "Let me explain. After the events of your recent war with the Ori a debate broke out amongst the ascended. There were those who believed you and the people of Earth to be ready to take on the mantle of being the long awaited Fifth Race as the Asgard believed."

"But…"

"But there were several other sects that believed that you were not ready, or that you couldn't be trusted with sharing this gift of technology and experience with your fellow man to make you as a species united and strong. And unfortunately, your actions, however rightly justified in my opinion, have given those with that belief cause to take action. And although you may not know it, they have taken action."

"Oh perfect," McKay growled.

"What're you bitching about McKay? We were the ones fighting the Ori while you guys were dealing with the Wraith," Mitchell scoffed.

"They suck the life out of you, I'm fairly sure that qualifies as being…ow!" McKay yelped as Ronon slapped him on the head, "What did you hit me for?"

"Because you were whining again."

"By taken action, what do you mean?" Jackson asked.

"My daughter Athena, she has shown the Colonials what our ZPM's look like, and has given them a few cryptic clues on how to find them. You see, the Colonials had been entrusted with a simple goal from the very beginning of their being brought to Kobol those many years ago: Keep the peace when we had gone. But they had failed this, but Athena held out hope they would one day learn from their mistakes and reclaim the mantle she had entrusted them with."

"So she's helping them because she thinks that her babies have grown up and are ready for the big boy pants? That makes no sense! We've been the ones on the front lines, hundreds of our people have been fighting and dying to keep this galaxy and other galaxies free from threats of biblical proportions while the Colonials have gone and built their own arch enemy and have been totally isolated," Mitchell snapped, very angry now.

"It is more complicated than that Colonel Mitchell. She is very much under the influence of the group that believes that you have been corrupted."

"Corrupted? How are we corrupted?"

"From their perspective you are acting in your own selfish interests. So they've decided to do what in their view you should have already done."

"Well there's a reason we haven't shared our technology, they have to see that!" McKay said, "Imagine what would happen if we gave the Genii advanced technology, they'd go to war with us and subjugate anyone and everyone they came across. Our main means of averting outright conflict is our superiority, but take that away and put us on an even playing field it would mean all-out war."

"The others don't seem to believe that. But I on the other hand realize your point of view and agree with your logic. And those in my wing believe similarly to what you believe or are of the no-interference sect. We are very divided, as you can tell."

"Okay," Vala said, stepping in front of him, "Let me get this straight, the ascended beings have finally taken notice of what's going on and are doing something about it. You are part of a group that thinks we're doing things right and taking it easy on the contact and technology sharing. Also on your side are those who believe that you guys shouldn't be interfering at all. But on the other end of the spectrum, is Athena and I assume other members of your family who believe we're wrong by keeping this stuff to ourselves and not sharing?"

"Also on Athena's side is a smaller, less significant sect that are simply spiteful that you've taken our place as the dominant force in the galaxy."

"It seems no one's above spite," McKay grumbled.

"So how are you planning on helping us?" Mitchell asked, "Athena's done her part. Now let's hear what you're bringing to the table."

"I have done what I came to do. It is simply a compromise with the still powerful no-interference group. If we wanted their help, we couldn't physically interfere, only consult and inform."

"Seriously? Athena's out there doing that!"

"No she's not, it's part of her own group's agreement with their own supporters, they too cannot physically help. If it weren't that way, the Colonials would have the ZPM's already and you wouldn't even be here."

"So you can only help with words? The grunt work is left to us?" McKay asked, pissed off a great deal.

"Has it ever been different?"

Marinestar_ Ravager,_ in orbit of Frencalis

The Briefing Room of the colossal Marinestar was filled with Marine NCO's and officers in full battle dress uniforms camouflaged in a woodland pattern. Their helmets were tucked underneath their arms or on their knees as some sat down in the chairs of the large room. In front of them was General Kilroy, with a screen catching the slideshow images of the projector mounted in the ceiling, and he was standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Marines, thank you joining me on this fine day," he started, receiving smiles form the obvious banter, "As you are aware we have a downed Viper jock on the planet below. As usual the Viper flyers have gotten their prima donna asses into trouble and it's left to us ground pounders to bring 'em out without them breaking a nail. The objective: Lieutenant Kara Thrace, callsign Starbuck, a Viper pilot attached to Battlestar Galactica's fourth squadron," a picture of the blonde haired pilot in question popped up on the screen, "She was shot down yesterday over the planet, and has not been heard from since she had touched down safely. Her current status is unknown. Our orders are to extract her from the planet surface. But, it seems that the planet is inhabited by a local human population which is in the midst of a massive engagement that seems to have overrun her crash site and possibly captured her. From recon photos and intercepts of their radio chatter it is believed we are dealing with heavily motorized armored forces with heavy artillery coming from both sides and heavy air traffic from bombers and fighters. Their level of advancement is to the point we were at several hundred years ago, big gun warships, prop driven aircraft, and semi-accurate artillery."

"Excuse me sir," a Major asked, standing up, "Did you say we could be expecting to engage armor?"

"Yes, our recon photos show large formations of tanks, engaging one another and being engaged from the air and sea. Their exact details are unknown, but we can estimate their size as roughly the size of a Mjolnir, our own tanks, so they're dangerous."

"Thank you sir," the man replied, sitting back down.

"Now, we will be tasking Lieutenant Shire's Force Recon Platoon as primary rescue force while the rest of First Battalion is waiting in Raptors as a response force should reinforcements be required on the ground. Second Battalion and Third Battalion will be on hot standby, ready to drop to ground in Rovers should things go completely sideways."

"Sir what kind of orbital support could we be expecting?"

"_Cerberus_ will have a reserve force of Vipers ready to assist while we will launch our own Vipers and have a squadron draw off their own fighters and make a hole for our own Raptors to make landfall, and two more squadrons will be providing close air support in the event of hostile contact. But our own guns and missiles will remain offline, the potential for collateral damage is too great," the General responded.

"What are our rules of engagement sir?"

"Do not fire unless fired upon, these people probably have no idea we even exist, so they may think we're just another hostile combatant, but do your very best to not give them reason to fire on you. But I warn you that these are the same people who shot down this pilot we're pulling out."

"And what about that little Earth ship? What can we expect them to do?" one of the Colonels in the front row asked, "Not that I'm worried sir."

"Men, many of you do not know this, but Earth's ships are far deadlier than they look. Admiral Adama saw them wipe out a fleet of Cylon Basestars himself without loss. They are not to be trifled with at all," Kilroy warned, seeing shocked faces from his subordinates, "But they've offered assistance, but due to the current political situation we have politely refused. This is a Colonial operation, we're going after a Colonial pilot and we're going to get this done the Colonial Marine Corp way. Any questions?"

"Yes sir, uh…do we have any idea where the pilot is?"

"Our intelligence gathering operation has uncovered a possible place where one of the combatants has set up a base camp on the beach here," the General said, "It is a complex of tents and storage depots with a primary communication facility here, on this bluff overlooking the bay. From what our photos tell us it is well defended with trenches and foxholes along the outer perimeter and barbed wire strung out along the secondary routes of approach. There are several roads and paths leading out into the countryside for the forces of this combatant to make their way to their ever increasing frontline. They have several ships, mostly transports, offloading troops and supplies here with several warships out farther to sea. Our first plan of action hopefully will eliminate the need for us to even land in force. We've been able to match their frequencies and can broadcast to the individual combatants to ascertain the whereabouts of Lieutenant Thrace without putting boots on the ground."

"And if they don't help us or outright refuse us sir?" the same Colonel asked.

"We go down there and get our pilot back with or without their permission."

USS _Apollo_, in orbit of Frencalis

"Sir, I'm reading a large amount of communications broadcasting from the second Colonial ship," a young officer at the control console to Colonel Ellis's right said as she tapped away at her controls.

"Can you make it out?"

"Yes sir."

"What are they saying?"

"It looks like a command broadcast to the Colonial Battlestar from the ship we've identified as a Marinestar."

"Looks like they're planning on heading down to the planet," Ellis said, standing up and walking to the window that kept a good look at the Colonial flotilla.

"Colonel! I'm detecting numerous contacts launching from the Colonial Battlestar," a sergeant at the control station called out.

"Give me a number Sergeant," Colonel Ellis ordered, looking out at the large ship in the distance as little white darts flew from the sides of the hangar nacelles.

"I'm detecting twenty-five signatures matching Colonial Vipers. New contacts, make eight Colonial Raptors."

"Red alert, get our 302's ready to launch now."

"Yes sir."

"Helm put us closer to the planet, I want to be in between that Battlestar and the planet."

"New contacts, I'm reading twelve Raptors and seventy-five Vipers launching from the second Colonial Marinestar," the officer said, quite alarmed.

"Are they headed into the atmosphere?" Ellis asked, looking at the swarming mass of craft and the Colonial warships that were maneuvering themselves broadside with the Earth ship.

"No sir…wait, the Colonial Marinestar is hailing us."

"Let's hear it," Ellis said, tapping his headset to make sure that he was able to hear the Colonial loud and clear.

"This is Brigadier General Kilroy, we are attempting our rescue mission at the moment, I must please ask you to stand aside and allow us to retrieve our pilot," the radio crackled.

"This is Colonel Ellis of the Apollo, I understand your concern for your pilot and our own teams are scouring the planet for your pilot. We have a lead as to where they might be. But I must ask you to be patient so that we can…"

"Colonel, my orders are clear, we are to retrieve Lieutenant Thrace ourselves and that is the end of it. Now, will you stand aside or will you obstruct our rescue mission?"

"Warm up the external transporters, be ready to…"

"Sir, a force of three Raptors is entering the atmosphere! They just appeared in a radiation burst in the upper atmosphere!" one of the bridge personnel declared loudly.

"What?!" Ellis roared. They'd been duped, the Colonials had used the massive formations of Vipers and Raptors to get the Earth ship's attention then jumped their small Recon Platoon into the upper atmosphere so that they would be able to get in unhindered.

"They're falling through the ionosphere, the interference is prohibiting a positive lock."

"Dammit," Ellis growled, and thought to himself, "Pull us out of the path of the Colonial formation. I'm not going to start a war over something like this. General, good luck getting your pilot. But be warned, any sign of hostile intent towards the natives will be met with equal force."

"We only want our pilot, my Marines and pilots have specific orders not to fire unless fired upon, but if we are engaged we will defend ourselves."

The two men knew that this game of chicken could end up boiling over into a fully-fledged gunfight that neither one wanted to start. But the Colonials plan of action was already under way, and Colonel Ellis knew that if he attempted to interfere in a plan that was already starting up he could end up having himself an even worse situation with Colonial forces marooned on the ground or worse killed and Colonial forces in orbit that would blame them and respond with force that he knew would lead to their destruction. And the destruction of two large Colonial warships was the last thing that he wanted to happen. Once just one of those ships went up in flames there was no averting war.

Frencalis, Jaran Marine Beach Head Command Center

Starbuck knew from experience in the Fleet's intense survival and evasion school on Gemenon that there was nothing she as a pilot could or should do to try and affect self-rescue once she was in the custody of a hostile or potentially hostile force. And at the moment she had no intention of attempting a self-rescue. There were several reasons for this: She had no way into orbit where a Colonial ship could pick her up, she was under heavy guard by at least a full squad of troops, and they were apparently the good guys of this war and had no intention of hurting her. They'd taken Fara and Clair, the two civilians who'd she'd been helped by all the way until they were caught in the middle of a massive confrontation between the Jaran and Xeno militaries involving tanks, infantry, and artillery. She'd seen many of the Jaran troops killed before her eyes as they shepherded her and the two civies back to the rear and as they fought to push back the Xeno troops who'd invaded their lands. But once they were safe a full squad of Jaran troops had separated her from her other companions and was sent off on a truck with a bag over her head. They hadn't even attempted to tie her up, but had taken her service pistol and her other kit items, which was in the tent with her on a table at the entrance.

As she sat in the chair with her hands resting on the small round table in front of her the tent flap opened and she saw a man in a black windbreaker with silver buttons on his woolen coat and three four pointed stars on his shoulder boards walk in and took off his combination cover and tucked it under his arm.

"Well now, what have we here?" the man asked, reaching down and picking up her pistol and holding it in his hands.

"Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Colonial Fleet, Service Number 295-29-2948, callsign Starbuck," she drummed out on instinct, "And I got nothin' else to say unless you can make some interesting small talk."

"Well, let me see what I can do Lieutenant Thrace," the man said with a chuckle, "I'm Field Marshal Grund, Head of Field Intelligence for this sector of operations. Your arrival has sparked some interest within the ranks of our research division, some of those eggheads are saying you're from out there," the man said, waving hand vaguely to further exemplify what he meant.

"You believe them?" Starbuck asked, leaning back in her chair.

"Oh I don't know, I haven't seen your crash site yet, and the fact you're a woman in uniform would substantiate the claim made by our scientists."

"Well you'd better believe it. If I were to bet, and I do by the way, I'd say that one or two of my people's warships are up there in orbit, trying to find me and get me the frak off this planet. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it would be some nice country, if it weren't for this war you've got goin'."

"Warships…" the man laughed, "In orbit? Oh I cannot tell you how you've made my day Lieutenant, I've had a bad one so far but that one sentence has changed that."

"You don't believe me?" Starbuck asked coolly, arching an eye brow.

"You're damned right!" the man suddenly snapped, slamming his hands on the table, "There've been rumors of Xeno secret aircraft testing in this area for years. And the Xeno 35th Tactical Squadron, an all-female squadron is charged with the facility's defense. So tell me, Lieutenant, how many troops are guarding Air Base Five-A?"

"I'm not a fraking Xeno, if you'd take a look at my uniform, my equipment, or dammit even a look into orbit with a good pair of binoculars and you'll see one of our ships. And I also fought against your enemy and saved Clair and her daughter last night when a patrol tried to find me after you idiots shot me down."

"And how do I know that you're not some new spy from Sector Two? They're always trying new things to get into ranks and intel quadrants, killing their own troops is not below them."

"They sound like some real class acts."

"Indeed, and…"

As he was about to get up and start to circle her a loud trio of bangs exactly like sonic booms echoed outside of the tent. Yelling and sirens started going off as the Colonial pilot just leaned back and let the officer look around in complete confusion.

"Told ya," Starbuck chuckled as the man scowled at her and spun around and turned to look out of the tent.

He yanked it back and Starbuck got up confidently and stood next to the entrance and in the predawn light she saw the sprinkles of numerous glowing orange dots as what she guessed were descending Vipers and Raptors from orbital ships. Fighters from the Jaran forces were few at this changing of the guard hour and the anti-aircraft batteries were caught off guard from the sudden appearance of the unknown squadrons of Vipers and Raptors from space itself. There were men running scrambling around, on the brink of panic as a few dozen Vipers suddenly screamed past their field of vision. The Jaran troops were utterly confused as to what to do, and thankfully, none had started firing. Then, out of nowhere, a trio of Raptors began hovering slowly moving over the camp, spotlights shined down on the camp's tents and their inhabitants and out of those Raptors blared a voice.

"Attention, attention, this is Brigadier General Samuel Kilroy of the Colonial Marine Corp. We mean you no harm…"

The Jaran soldiers had been holding their weapons aimed straight up at the Raptors, afraid to fire. But once the speakers began going off they began looking at one another, but not exactly trusting the strange craft and voices coming from them. Starbuck looked over at the Jaran Field Marshal, who was staring at the Raptors until she walked up beside him.

"Should've believed me pal," she said, and started to wave at the Raptors with a flashlight she was sure would get their attention and saw them start to turn towards her slowly.

But, over all the commotion came a slight whistling noise, and then screams.

"Incoming!"

Starbuck looked to her left and saw an ambulance get hit by an artillery round and sent its back flipping end over end. The vehicle crushed a hospital tent as it leaked flame as troops and nurses rushed to assist as more whistles came crashing down on the beachside base. Loud explosions of contact rounds threw up the coarse sand in dense plumes as deadlier air burst rounds exploded twenty feet over the heads of the Jaran base. The Colonial Raptors were caught totally off guard and slowly started to climb out of danger until a single Raptor took a direct hit in its starboard engine and went into a death spin and crashed down on its side in the lapping waves thirty feet away in three feet of water. Starbuck flinched as more artillery landed around her and troops armed and unarmed rushed to bunkers and trenches for cover while she decided to run for the Raptor that had been hit. As she went to run for the beach and the downed Raptor a pair of Jaran troops were launched into the air by a shell exploding in between them and fell at her feet. Their bodies were mangled as both men writhed around on the ground, screaming for their mothers, neither looked like they were old enough to shave. But her own people were in imminent danger, so she pressed on through the chaos towards the waterline. She dodged vehicles, shell bursts, and other Jaran personnel all the way to the water's edge. She saw an offshore transport light up like a roman candle as shell scored a direct hit at its water line and ignited its stores of ammunition and fuel that were being transported to the beach. The ship seemed to heave itself out of the water like a great desperate beast and then the hull splintered as yellow and white flame escaped and then burst forth. The remaining halves of the ship crashed back down into the red tinged water as wreckage rained down far and wide. The Raptor was sitting peacefully as water lapped at its edges and leaked out a steady stream of flame from its mangled engine block. She could see the struggling crew in the cabin through the canopy and rushed towards it. She waded through the water as shells struck the water around her sending mud and spray sky high. The screams of alarm from the Jaran camp were now perforated with the sounds of heavy guns coming from offshore as the mighty dreadnaughts of the Jaran Navy opened fire to retaliate for the sudden and untimely Xeno strike. Land-based batteries opened fire as well adding their deadly say into the vicious argument of artillery.

"Hey! Hey!" Starbuck yelled, pounding on the glass, getting the attention of the pilot, "Shoot the glass!"

The man nodded and waved her aside and aimed his weapon at the cracked glass and fired three shots that mostly shattered the tough glass. With this new hole open for use the eight Marines and two pilots in the Raptor filed out, with weapons drawn. The Marines who'd been in the bay of the larger Marine model Raptor were shaken, but not crippled. One held his mangled and bloody arm close to his chest and held his rifle in the other hand. One of the pilots was being carried out by the final two Marines who quickly tried to get him to shore amidst the bombardment.

"Are you guys alright?!" Starbuck asked as they reached the sandy beach.

"We're alright, hey you're…"

"Lieutenant Thrace, thanks for stopping by," Starbuck sarcastically remarked as she looked up as a new noise began to perforate across the land.

Jet engines from Marine Vipers streaked overhead and with their rocket pods mounted under their wings in the stead of missiles they proceeded to lay out enormous suppressing fire in the far distance. The rapid series of thumps in the distance was evidence that their fire was directed at the artillery that had engaged the beach head and had downed one of their Raptors.

"Looks like those frakkers who shot us down are getting their asses chewed," the Marine sergeant in charge of the men in that particular Raptor grinned.

"Looks like it," the ECO stated as he looked after his hurt pilot. Then the Marines went on full alert and aimed their weapons in the directions of the Jaran base. Starbuck looked up and saw that dozens of Jaran soldiers, and several vehicles were rushing their way, weapons aimed and ready to fire. The Marines were totally confused and hesitate to fire as their NCO quickly started talking on the radio.

"Chariot Base, Chariot Base, this is Blue Tongue Two, we are on the ground with a dead Raptor, have acquired the objective. We need pick-up over!" the man said as the Jaran troops quickly enveloped the group of eleven Colonials. The Marines held their ground, aiming at one particular target in the crowd while scanning for secondary targets should the need to kill arise. The single Eco drew his pistol and stayed behind the Marines

"Drop your weapons," one of their officers ordered, holding his revolver aimed at Starbuck.

"No thanks," one of the Marines responded harshly.

Starbuck then saw, out of the corner of her eye a shape that was a sight for sore eyes. Five Raptor gunships were hovering overhead as Vipers circled several thousand feet above them, waiting to pounce.

"Attention unknown troops, if you attack my people, we will do to you what we did to that artillery," the voice of General Kilroy stated angrily, "Back away now."

The Jaran troops hesitated, but as the Raptors shined their spotlights at them they began to quietly back away, but did stay their weapons. The guns on the shore and on the water had all fallen silent as did the shelling but screams from wounded men and orders still echoed out from the camp. But that seemed secondary at the moment as two of the Raptors lowered themselves to present their port hatch for the Marines to get aboard with relative safety.

"Get aboard Lieutenant, section one on the bird to the left, section two on the bird to the right. Move now!" the man said, holding his rifle aimed at the numerous Jarans who were still waiting for any sign of hostile intent.

As she got aboard the Colonial Marine stepped out for all to see and yelled out, "By the way, we'll be back for that Raptor! Don't even think about moving it!"

And as quickly as he'd called out he jumped back into the Raptor and shut the hatch. The Raptor started to lift off as the pilot called out on the radio, "Chariot Base this is Red Tongue Five, we have the primary objective aboard, no casualties. We're coming home."

Starbuck leaned her head back against the familiar cold metal of Colonial steel and smiled at being off that war zone of a planet and back in the safety of a Battlestar. As she leaned her head back she heard the pilots begin chattering up in the cockpit and turned her head to look and saw what it was they were looking at. Hundreds of Vipers were in a tense standoff against none other than an Earth Battlecruiser. There was not only the Marinestar Ravager standing off with her own compliments of fighters and Raptors deployed but there was a Battlestar arranged with her batteries ready to unleash its full firepower against the dangerous little ship. The Earth seemed to be pointing right at the two warships, it too ready fire away with everything in its own arsenal.

"What the frak has been happening up here?"

Asteroid Cluster in Deep Space, Cylon Shadow Fleet

The boxlike, yet sleek form of the Cylon Heavy Raider carrying the Cylon delegation to the Lucian command ship easily and gracefully docked with the hatch of the Ha'tak Mothership with a loud clang as its flexible docking collar acquired a hard seal. The Lucians had done their share of first contacts with other human civilizations. It was their main means of recruitment, economic growth, and territorial expansion. But very few times had the Lucians met a society with this level of technology and the quantity of said technology. There were a dozen guards, as well as Commander Ryle Freit himself and a few aides. They were wearing their own black uniforms with freshly shined insignias and rewards to make the best impression possible.

He stood there, waiting for the gilded gold door to slide open, and when they did, he was shocked by what he saw. Standing there before him were two massive chrome robots standing an imposing seven or eight feet tall with a glowing red eye that swerved back and forth in a mesmerizing motion that gave life to the unemotional face. The two robots looked dangerous and sleek, but their actions did not seem to emulate this predatory look to them. Instead, they walked forward, and turned sharply to stand at the entrance. And the figures who followed them out were the most surprising things that the Lucians had ever seen. His well-trained male eye picked out the sumptuous curves of a well-endowed woman approaching him. When she entered the torch lit light of the Ha'tak's hall he saw she was one of the most beautiful woman that had ever fallen before his eye. Her light brown hair fell in a loose wave over her bare shoulders and her dress of green sparkling rhinstones hugged her body and made due with every bit of exposed cleavage that would have been deemed proper to call it an item of clothing. The dress thinned out around her knees on the right side and then fell further to her left in strings of cloth and glittering stone. Her face was a work of beauty with make-up applied in all the right places and no more. Her feet were in clear high heels that clicked and clacked as she strut her way into the room.

The Lucians were speechless as the giant robots and gorgeous woman stared at them, one with warm batting eye lashes, the other with metallic cold precision. And finally, it was the woman who spoke, "Hello, I'm Elizabeth of the Cylons."

"I am Commander Ryle Freit, of the Lucian Alliance," the haughty Lucian replied, "I must say, I was expecting a woman, not an angel he said, using some of the pick-up lines he'd learned as a young man to get this woman flattered and comfortable."

She simply smiled, and stepped forward, "I have come on behalf of the Cylons to seek a mutual friendship and alliance. I do hope that you intend to pursue the same goal as I."

"Of course, shall I escort you to your quarters? And I trust that your…guardians will want to come along?" Freit asked, referring to the Centurions with a different critical, but examining eye.

"You have nothing to fear from the Centurions, they are intimidating and deadly, yet, can be as gentle as a summer breeze when they are placid and docile. Their attack protocols take effect once I or another Cylon is in danger," she said, walking to the one on the left and ran her manicured hands along the stainless steel chest piece without the Centurion even acknowledging what the Cylon woman was doing to it.

"Very well, shall we…" Freit said, extending his arm in a high class act of grace.

"Very well."

And the two of them walked down the corridor with six guards holding their rifles in hand with the aides in tow while the other six stayed on guard at the Cylon transport's dock and to keep an eye on the two motionless Centurions. Both man and woman were, unbeknownst to the other, thinking the same thought.

They have no idea what they're in for.

Choros, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command

"Today is a great day in Colonial history Doctor," Admiral Queens said proudly, walking into the busy control center for the ring. Dozens of computers monitoring power levels, data streams, wormhole integrity, visuals of the security cameras, and other vital functions sat ready for use and in many cases already in use.

"Yes it is," Baltar stated, straightening the shirt he was wearing underneath his white lab coat that was emblazoned with the new Command's unit patch on both shoulders, "After several days of work and some lucky breaks we are ready for our first activation."

"Good, and your calculations are correct?" the Admiral asked, looking at the numerous technicians on the floor of the ring room make the final touches to the automated rollers that would make the ring's symbols circle around its circumference so it was able to dial out once the dialing computer inputted the desired destination after a pair of security codes was inputted for security's sake. Three full companies of troops were ready to swarm and lock down the area should something hostile come through the ring that the formidable defenses in the ring room weren't able to stop. Thirty troops were stationed behind concrete and steel barriers holding assault rifles, light machine guns, and grenades while others were stationed in pillboxes built into the walls that had five heavy machine guns ready to deploy.

"The calculations have been approved by the simulations and all preparations are now done. In record time I might add," Baltar stated, walking to the window where he was looking down into the room where the security force and the technicians were preparing for the first activation.

"Good, once your people are out of there we'll have our first remote probe sent through to determine if we are able to send through our recon team," the Admiral stated.

"Yes of course, the probes are quite necessary to ensure that the atmosphere is safe and the area is secure. I recommended that protocol to you myself," Baltar stated, walking to grab a tablet off of the desk where he'd set it down.

"Oh no credit for me? I'm hurt," the sultry voice of his ghost girlfriend, Angela, (Yes I decided to give her a damned name. In canon she never had a Human name, so I can make up one.) said as her hand was set gently on Gaius's own hand.

"Yes and that protocol will save many lives," the Admiral stated, watching the technicians leave and snapped Baltar out of his trance.

"Yes well, it's nothing," he replied shakily, taking the tablet and ran through the programs one last time.

"Admiral Queens, sir we're ready to begin the dialing sequence," an engineer said from her station in the front of the row of stations.

The main control room was situated with its massive banks of computer towers in the rear of the room, nice and out of the way. The two entrances were side by side, allowing for easy entry and exit in the case of emergency but still a secured room in case of assault. The work stations were arranged on the edges of the room with a walkway in front of the window that looked down into the ring room while the primary systems stations were situated right behind this walkway. In the center of the room was a table with a screen that was able to highlight anything that was needed of it, whether it be the space surrounding the small moon, the facility itself, or piggy backing off any of the other computer in the room. It had a black tiled floor, with a lead layer underneath it and the window was capable of being shuttered by perpendicular double layered titanium shutters should worse come to worse.

"And have we got an address to test out," the Admiral stated with a sly grin, "Kobol."

"Yes sir," the young woman said, and tapped in the appropriate code to gain access to the dialing program, and then a man opposite of her did the same and then she tapped in the preloaded address of Kobol's own Stargate.

"How did you…" Baltar started.

"The dig at Gemenon held more than the Ring and a few tablets. We found an enormous cavern with walls covered in gate addresses. Kobol's was the most prominent of them. So what better place to go than Kobol and meet our Expedition Fleet there?" the Admiral said, looking out as the Stargate as it turned and the first of seven stones lit up. The troops were aiming their weapons at the ring, ready for anything.

"This is it Gaius, all you hard work has come to this, are you ready to see Kobol? Are you ready to pay the price to return?" Angela asked, running her hands over his shoulders as she whispered in his ear, "Are the Colonies willing to pay the price in blood?"

**Dun dun dun…Foreshadowing a little don't you think? Well thank you for staying with me, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter and yes I know I gave Caprica Six a name, as Baltar doesn't know her as Caprica Six, he would know her by a name if they were having constant sex right? And I'm a little disappointed, I had offered a chance for people to write their own BSG/SG1 Crossovers as part of a competition. But the end date for the competition is here and not one story has been published. Quite disappointing, oh well, one less thing.**

**Also, the CV-307 Halsey Class Deep Space Carrier is on Deviantart, just type in my name in the search bar and one of my drawings should come up and then use your head to find the new ship design.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The first steps of the Colonial RSEC come up against the pride of Earth's SGC. And Apollo finds something interesting on the planet at war.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry for the wait, college has started and I've been otherwise occupied. The story isn't going to be stopped by college but it will be greatly slowed down. But anyway, here's the new chapter.**

**Chapter 19**

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 1200 Hours

Location: Kobol, City Ship Olympus

The Olympus gate room was a small hive of activity since McKay had reactivated the Stargate. The new Taiwanese and Dutch SG-Teams had arrived and were waiting for orders as other science teams were now making their way through the tower to their new assignments where they would be working on the crippled city ship. The two new SG-Teams from Taiwan, SG-35, and the Netherlands, SG-37, were holding the preferred weapons of their respective nations. The Taiwanese held T-91 Assault Rifles while the Dutch held G-36K Assault Rifles, each member of the teams had modified their weapons using the picatinny railings present on the very adaptable rifles. But they all felt relaxed and secure, they'd read the files on the gate shield of the Ancient City Ships, so it stood to reason this one was no different and all that would happen in the event of a wormhole was them pointing at the gate and them hearing an object smash into the shield and that would be that.

But as they sat there and talked and waited for something more interesting to do they began hearing the unmistakable sound of chevrons activating. The red crystals of the Stargate glowed one by one and the highly disciplined troops instantly snapped into action. The group of troops had been organized barely even a week or two ago, and were still untested in combat, at least offworld. But, being the best that their nations could send they were not to be trifled with. So with classic military discipline and composure they waited.

"Colonel Mitchell, the gate is dialing in," one of the Dutchmen called out on the radio as he ducked behind the stairs.

And with a single familiar whoosh the event horizon jumped forth and was just as quickly sucked back into the rippling pool inside the stone and crystal ring. They waited as the radio crackled urgently with orders from Colonel Sheppard.

"Get the shield up," he said, his panting apparent in the background as he ran towards the gate room.

"We're trying sir!" one of the technicians upstairs cried out.

"What do you mean you're trying?! Get the damned thing up!" Sheppard ordered again.

"Colonel there's something wrong with the control mechanism to the shield. It isn't responding."

"McKay!" Mitchell growled over the radio.

"What?! I hadn't gotten around to it yet when you showed up, priorities."

"Security to the control room, lock it down."

"Sir! Something's coming through."

The security inside the gate room stiffened their grips on their weapons as a single tracked object rolled through the gate. It was long and slender, with two different tracks in the front and rear of the vehicle for rough terrain. It was colored a dark gray with what appeared to be a turret on the top of the middle of the armored steel body. It was about the size of a second generation MALP, but with more features. The turret was either automated or remote controlled, and what was being controlled was some kind of light machine gun with five different cameras mounted underneath the barrel. On the rear of the vehicle was a small little item that was not unfamiliar. A small camera at the center of four spokes with propeller blades on the ends was held down by clamps that meant that it was a UAV of some kind. On the front was a symbol, a symbol that was quite familiar to Earth. It was the Colonial insignia, painted in gold with a red border around it.

"Colonel, it's a vehicle of some kind, it's armed and armored," one of the Dutch troops called out.

"A vehicle? Describe it," Mitchell acknowledged, but then rounded the corner himself and was able to look at it from ground level off to its right side, "Oh never mind I see it."

On its side was a line of block text, "RSEC-D001." What it meant was unknown, but who it belonged to was obvious once Daniel saw the insignia on its side, "It's Colonial," he said, keeping behind a pillar.

"What's it doing here?" McKay asked, peeking around the corner.

"Why are you hiding?" Ronon asked, looking at McKay with an eye of curiosity.

"Don't you see that gun on top of it?"

"It isn't pointed at us," Mitchell grumbled.

"It's still a big gun," McKay responded.

"And it's a big gun pointed at our people," Sheppard responded, pointing at the swiveling weapon.

The vehicle had stopped in front of the Stargate, well away from the event horizon so that a reactivation wouldn't harm it. The gate room was now exclusively occupied by twenty soldiers from Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Australia. All of their weapons were arrayed against this one rather large Colonial MALP, which was scanning its perimeter, swiveling its weapon/camera to take in what it was up against. But it seemed that the Colonials controlling ti had no real idea what they were doing.

Choros, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command

"What in the world?" Admiral Queen mumbled, seeing a well-lit room crawling with people in uniform and well-armed. The probe had been sent through and had expected to encounter ruins or a forest or plains, but now the Colonial officer was taken off-guard by the interesting destination and its occupants that his installation had come across on its first offworld foray.

"It seems that we are not the first to reach Kobol," Baltar whispered, looking at the screen with a curious and scientific eye.

"Who are they?" the Admiral demanded, "Kobol was deserted thousands of years ago, who are these people?"

"Sir, they could be an Earth exploration party," a Major at his side spoke up, "Remember sir they have a much better understanding of the Ring and it's perfectly possible that they were here before they found us. It would explain how they found the Colonies."

"Yes it would, but they never told us they found Kobol."

"But why wouldn't they tell us?" one of the higher ranking officers present said.

"Because they're hiding something. And we need to know what it is now. Prepare the Squads One and Two for immediate deployment," Queens ordered, receiving shocked expressions from the civilians that were present.

"Admiral," Baltar stated, "Don't you think we should first attempt communicating with these Earthers? They might interpret a force going through the gate as an act of aggression."

"Doctor, engaging Earth's forces are not on my priority list. While those two squads are being prepared we will attempt to communicate with these people. But my orders from the Admiralty are clear, nothing stands in the way of us retrieving valuable knowledge, technology, and data on Kobol, not even Earth."

"Well, how long until the squads are ready?"

"Ten minutes, they're equipment has to be selected based upon the terrain and environment the probe sees."

"Very well," the Admiral stated, open a channel using the probe," and as soon as he said it the probe's own speakers and microphones were tuned in and ready.

"You're on sir," the man said, getting a nod from the Admiral.

"This is Admiral Queen of the Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command, please identify yourself."

The soldiers in the view of the camera began looking at one another, probably asking themselves what they were going to say, and who among them was going to say it. But then a pair of men walked in front of the camera, causing it to instinctively zoom out. They were armed and equipped similarly and their uniforms were practically identical. One had spiky black hair and the other had brown neatly combed hair that was a bit shorter.

"Hi there, this is Colonel Mitchell, of Earth's exploration team SG-1. What can we for you?" the man asked.

Admiral Queen took a moment to realize he recognized that name, but then responded, "Colonel Mitchell is it? I believe I have heard your name spoken of before. This is Admiral Queen, I am in charge of the Colonial Ring Exploration and Security Command. We have dialed this planet in the hope it would bring us to Kobol, and I believe that you may have beaten us there. If that is Kobol."

"Well, I don't know that this is Kobol, but we've been here a day or two, or three. We're still looking around, a few little knick knacks, no big deal."

By the way the camera showed Mitchell's face the old Colonial officer was quite quickly suspicious of what he was being told and pressed further, "We have prepared an exploration team of our own Colonel and would like to send them through, to help verify that this address if in fact Kobol."

"Well sorry, can't let that happen, my orders to keep folks away from this planet."

The Colonials in that room all began silently mumbling amongst themselves, some were surprised, some were angry, some were completely shocked. If this was Kobol, Earth had just told them they weren't allowed to send anyone through to the place of their own ancestral birth.

"Excuse me Colonel? Did you say that you cannot allow us through, to our own planet of origin, yours and mine?" the Admiral said, trying to keep a tight hold on his emotions. He'd been told that this job would take some diplomatic expertise but this was beginning to push it.

"Well that's what we've been told by our superiors. No one comes through the gate. If you do, well, things might get a little messy."

"Colonel, you and I are reasonable men, I'm sure that we can work something out."

"I am, but I'm also a good soldier, and my orders are clear. No one comes through the gate."

Admiral Queen hissed under his breath and then spoke, resigning himself to the fact that nothing was going to happen through talking with someone he as a soldier could tell was firmly entrenched in his position and would not budge from it, "Well I'm sorry Colonel. But this will not stand. We'll be coming, with or without your permission."

"Well, good luck," Mitchell said, patting the camera, causing it to shake slightly.

"Cut it off, and prepare Squads Three through Six, full combat gear. I need to make a call."

Scorpion Fleet Shipyard, orbit over Scorpio

The Raptor carrying Rear Admiral Cain to her old command, the Battlestar Pegasus, gently turned on its axis as it flew gracefully into the gaping opening of the Pegasus's lower port landing bay. The Admiral had been enjoying some leave at home on Tauron until a message arrived on her doorstep in the form of an Ensign handing off the piece of paper personally. The message read very simply, she was to return to the Pegasus as soon as possible for a new assignment. And so, like any good soldier, she had.

Cain's first sight once inside the Pegasus's hangar deck was one that astonished her. Her ship had been outfitted with similar hot stacks that the older Columbias had been outfitted designed with. This allowed her to have three times the fighter compliment that her ship had previously. But these weren't the Vipers she was used to seeing on her decks. Her flight decks were normally crowded with Viper Mk VII's, sleek and deadly, they were the pride of the Colonial fighter armadas that took off from everything from Corvettes to Warstars. Their three cannons were deadly as is, but then add the numerous missiles they could also take with them and you have a maneuverable fighter with the capability to kill quite a few different targets. But what Admiral Cain was now seeing were not Viper Mk. VII's, these new Vipers were different, they had four cannons, two side by side on their port and starboard wings. Their build was slightly different, they were looked like a modified Mk. VII, but there were definite key differences elsewhere. Their engines seemed to be more bulky, which meant more power, their bodies were more angular to deflect DRADIS and make them more stealthy. She also noticed another sight that was familiar, yet different.

A row of craft greatly resembling Raptors were stowed neatly along a wall underneath the revamped catwalk that allowed for crew and pilots to move freely. They were roughly the same size, but had a few differences. Their canopies were angular, allowing for a more seamless streamlined look. Their tail fins were flayed outwards slightly with the engines nestled in between. The wings were the same, and the hatches were the same. But little did she know that these Raptors had an additional hatch, added for the purpose of easier landing of Marines at the bottom of the craft.

"Admiral," the familiar voice of Colonel Belzen spoke up as she stood looking at the minor changes to the Pegasus.

"Colonel, I see that I was not the only one who received orders to report back aboard the old girl."

"No ma'am, I got here yesterday. It seems that Fleet Research and Development has had a field day with the old girl. We've got new Vipers, new Raptors, new DRADIS, new armor, new weaponry, and everything in between. She's practically a new ship," the Colonel replied, a big smile on his face.

"I'd like to see some of these improvements in action Colonel."

"Well we may just be on our way to do that," Belzen replied, opening up a hatch for the Admiral to go through and followed her out of the deck.

"What do you mean?"

"After the crew is aboard we've got orders to go through trials near Choros, Colonial Intelligence wants a personal front seat to what the Pegasus can do."

"Well first I want to know what she can do Colonel, I want a full report on all upgrades on my desk by the end of the day."

"You already do, it's marked classified for CO's and XO's eyes only."

"Intelligence?" Cain asked, opening her door to see the sealed files on her glass table.

"Yes ma'am, and I'll tell you now, since I've read it already, some of what the Beast has been outfitted with will blow your mind," Belzen replied, sitting on one of the couches across from Cain who took the small blade she always had in her pocket and cut the seal on the folders and pulled out the papers and started reading."

"Well let's see what those spooks did to my ship shall we?"

And she started reading the papers and was quickly intrigued at what she was reading. Apparently the Pegasus had been totally stripped of her weapons, Vipers, and Raptors and refitted with new and untested technology that had been deemed necessary for deployment and testing in the field. First, her armor had been supplemented with a foot-thick layer of composite reactive armor made up of similar material that the Army's and Marine's main battle tanks were made of but was denser by a factor of five of six. There was also another innovation that was more confusing to the naked eye. A series of wires six inches thick ran in a grid along the whole of the Pegasus's hull, creating a small magnetic field around it.

To explain its importance one must first understand plasma. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, it is accomplished by heating any number of gasses to ionize its molecules or atoms thus reducing or increasing the number of electrons in them, thus turning it into plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions. This makes it very hot, thus creating a perfect weapon for defeating armor reliant foes which the Colonials were as it would just melt through anything it touched. But, to control plasma one cannot use any known solid, they had to use a magnetic field that could channel and hold plasma as to keep a tight containment on it and then channel it out. The Colonials knew this, but couldn't really control magnetic fields as well as they would need to in order to make plasma a viable weapon. But they could create a blank slate field that could disturb and repel plasma in a way that was adequate to keep small amounts of plasma off of the hulls of ships and in containment units at universities and research facilities. But it had never been made on the scale practiced by the Pegasus now, its field was ten times greater than that of the foremost plasma holding unit in the Colonies, being able to put a tiny dent in a star(which is made of plasma) if it got to within a mile, or so it was told. This was a response to the fact that the weapons of Earth's fleet were plasma based and the Colonial brass needed a way to keep their ships from being turned into slag heaps within moments of the two sides engaging. It was clear that the Cylons ha no answer to it, yet and it was quite possible to the Admiralty that things may come to blows between Earth and the Colonies and this was the first step to an arms race that would put them on equal ground with Earth's military. Or so it was hoped.

The next addition to the _Pegasus_ was a totally new armament of shiny new cannons and fire control computers. Her primary ship-to-ship batteries were upgraded with newer more deadly weapons that were of the same size and design to accommodate the current set-up of the _Mercury_ class Battlestar's cannons. The guns themselves were changed out for a newer, tougher barrel that didn't recoil at all and was updated with new lifts and reload mechanisms allowing for much faster rates of fire. This rate of fire was made all the more deadly by the new innovation in propellant for the ship's batteries. A new tungsten lined high explosive shell was now able to be propelled at four times the normal speed and was capable of packing a lot more punch than before her point defense batteries were supplemented with more guns along her hull than before allowing for a tighter flak field. These guns had had their own facelift as well. New rounds were used for newer tougher barrels and feeding mechanisms allowing for higher rates of fire and faster rounds more explosive rounds that were textured to splinter in a splash damage effect designed to turn something the size of a house into nothing more than a wreck with one shot. The fixed forward guns of the _Pegasus_ had been expanded in caliber and were uniquely equipped to fire a round the size of a Viper at speeds equivalent to 0.12 times the speed of light. This was now accomplished with a newer longer barrel that ran along the whole of the alligator head section of the _Pegasus_. These new rounds now moved too fast for explosives to be effective and now used a Tungsten-Titanium round that was designed to pierce and flatten as it passed through its target. And to top it all off every gun was now DRADIS controlled, allowing for pin point accuracy instead of the classic spray and pray of the normal fire control that the Colonials used. Even their missiles had new warheads and propulsion systems. But the scariest of all these was the new class of Armageddon class of nuclear cluster warheads. Each was designed for planetary bombardment and long range ship-to-ship engagements. Their thirty warheads would split off from the primary missile and split off on their own smaller thrusters into their target and explode with the force of two hundred million tons of TNT. It was a scary arsenal to be sure, and the Colonial brass needed it bad.

And to propel this behemoth of destruction was a new set of engines and maneuvering thrusters. Each had been retooled to use less fuel for much longer ranges and had been upgraded with newer injectors for extra boosts of speed in combat situations, equaling the _Pegasus_'s new top speed to that of a ship much smaller. Her maneuvering thrusters were doubled in number to allow for practically fighter-like maneuverability. Her FTL had been totally ripped out and replaced with a much larger one that had a range of twelve light years and had pin point much greater than anything before it. But the best part was that the Pegasus, like the larger Battlestars dating all the way back to the _Galactica_ herself, had two of these FTL drives allowing for rapid jumps to take place in tactical and emergency situations.

And powering all of this was a new set of advanced fusion generators that produced twice the power of her normal generators. This new power would be needed for her new DRADIS, weapons, and defensive measures.

Then there was the newly added air group that had peaked Admiral Cain's interest when she had first arrived. They were now comprised of what the report told her were the new advanced Viper Mk. VIII's. They were supposedly in development after having some funding taken away after the Mk. VII's proved their worth and the government just didn't want to fund something that would replace a type of Viper that didn't need replacement. But now she had over seven hundred of the things on her ship along with more than fifty of the new Block Three Raptors. These had been in development for a while but their presence was basically ignored until now. Unfortunately, from what she was reading hardly anyone outside of the test pilots knew how to fly these new craft, and she would have to get her pilots trained up from scratch.

"Well, sure is something isn't?" Belzen asked, seeing Cain put down the folder.

"I want every pilot, knuckle dragger, marine, and crewman on this ship within two days. We have a lot of work to do, and I want to get this done in a timely manner," Cain ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Belzen responded, seeing his CO's face etched into one of concentration and deep thought.

"Let's see what those Earthers think of us when they get a load of this."

Picon, Colonial Fleet Headquarters

The assembled Admirals and Generals of the Colonial Admiralty were in the midst of discussing the latest happenings with what was going on in Colonial territory as was the norm for them to do at least once a month as part of their responsibilities. They all sat at a long wooden table carved from fine Caprican mahogany with glasses and pitchers of water and coffee there for drinking in their meeting. There were several Admirals from both the Colonial Navy as well as the mighty Colonial Fleet, there were also Generals from the Army and Marines there for their own comprehensive reports.

"Admiral on deck!"

"Gentlemen," the voice of Admiral Nagala, the commander of all Colonial forces, said as he walked in causing every man and woman to jump to attention, "At ease. Now, shall we begin? General Watch, we'll hear the Army's report now."

"Yes sir," the older man responded, looking at his set of papers dealing with his branch, "The Army has stepped down from its level of alert and the eighty Reserve divisions have been demobilized to Condition Four. Our main formations, a total force of two hundred and fifty divisions, around the major cities are still at a Condition Three Alert, but all other formations, one hundred and fifty divisions, are in Condition Four. We'll be fully demobilized within the week and secured from the emergency alert and all units and equipment will be secured on base. The sudden alert had prevented war games designated Operation True Falcon on Aerilon for eight divisions in the equatorial region. But once those units are fully secured from an alert status we'll resume preparations for those war games with your permission sir."

"I see no reason why not General," Nagala replied, giving a nod to the Army's Commandant.

"Thank you sir, and that concludes my report. Any questions?"

The group of officers did not ask, there wasn't much to discuss, the Army was massive, and had fully awaken during the fallout from the contact with Earth and was now gradually slipping back into a deep sleep of peace time operations.

"Very well, General Gyrem, will you deliver the Marine Corp's report please?"

"Yes sir," the younger man responded, "The Marine Corp has stepped down its readiness among its Reserve formations, a total of forty infantry, armored, and airborne divisions, to Condition Four. Our ship-board units, a total of twenty divisions, aboard the Marinestars have been ordered to return to their bases but will remain at Condition Two, ready to board their ships and respond to any incursion on Colonial soil and supplement Fleet-bound marine compliments. Our major ground side formations, a total of one hundred divisions of all categories, is beginning a phased stand down to Condition Four which will be fully complete within the week. On another note five new Ravager class Marinestars have been finished and we'll begin transferring their crew over from the five Chariot class we have slated to be decommissioned. That concludes my report gentlemen."

"Thank you General," Nagala nodded, then turned to the man who controlled the weakest of the military branches, the Colonial "Wet" Navy.

The "Wet" Navy, was the second oldest branch of the Armed Forces, being a very necessary, but strategically useless asset. It's main duties were clerical in nature, prime among which was patrolling the seas of the Colonies looking out for potential threats to the still massively important merchant ships that brought goods and raw materials to and from the main population and industrial centers from across the vast oceans. They had the smallest active and reserve components, barely totaling two million officers and enlisted personnel, which were mainly spent doing mundane things like training, anti-piracy, and rescue operations. But they still possessed deadly weapons, such as their mainstay warships, the dreadnaughts, a carrier/battleship hybrid, from which the Battlestars traced their lineage. They also possessed smaller cruisers, destroyers, and support craft for escort and shallow water operations. But the deadliest weapons in their possession were their submarines, each one was capable of sending several salvos of nuclear ordinance into orbit with complete impunity from any attack except from its own kind of which there were none. But this deadly threat coupled with the outdated restrictions of a wet navy relegated this branch to obscurity and was the butt of many jokes in the service both high and low.

"Admiral Seymour, the report on the Navy if you please."

"Yes sir," the man dressed in white replied, "The Colonial Navy has fully stood down from its alert status to Condition Four and Five but the majority of my ships are at sea at the moment which means we can easily assist the Army and Marines in case of an incursion or attack. Our reservists are still in active status as I would like to conduct a branch-wide training exercise to gauge the effectiveness of my forces. The majority of my capital ships are at sea and ready for action at a moment's notice as we are in the midst of a large campaign combatting piracy and terrorists on all planets. And every one of my subs is in its launch position, ready to launch their warheads into orbit in support of orbital defenses. And that concludes my own report sir."

"Very well Admiral," Admiral Nagala responded, showing the "Wet" Navy Admiral some manner of respect, "Alright Admiral Cunningham, the report on the Fleet if you please."

"Yes sir, as of now the Colonial Fleet has begun to stand down from Condition Two to Condition Three, the vast majority of the fleet has returned to their previous posts and patrols with a few exceptions such as the force sent on the Kobol Expedition, the task force near the meeting station in orbit around Ophian, and the forces patrolling near Choros. Those not on patrol are now beginning to return to dock for maintenance and overhauls in a few cases. Our reserve formations are returning their vessels to their shipyards and will be standing down. The Warstar _Zeus_'s repairs are nearly complete after the incident aboard her number three flight pod and she'll be deployed with her Battlegroup within two days. Our research and development crews have overhauled the Battlestar _Pegasus _in an effort to match the firepower and defensive capabilities of Earth's own warships and all_ Mercury_ and _Valkyrie_ class ships under construction are standing by awaiting the trials of the _Pegasus_ which will be happening within three days. Once the trials are complete we'll begin cycling our current ships through the shipyards to outfit these upgrades to them if Research and Development has done its job right."

"Very good, now for…"

At that moment the group was interrupted by a young Commander walking into the room holding a piece of paper. She instantly saluted the assembled generals and admirals until Admiral Nagala returned the salute.

"Sir, we've received a Priority One message from Choros," the young officer sounded off.

"Let's see it then," Nagala ordered, being handed the paper instantly, "Hmm…"

"Admiral, something we should know about?" one of the Generals asked.

"It seems that our new Program to use and understand the Ring of the Lords has met with success but has hit a roadblock. This report from Admiral Queen is saying that he's made contact with an Earth exploration party on Kobol."

"That's amazing, what's the road block sir?"

"Earth, they're refusing us access to Kobol's surface through the Ring."

"That's outrageous! We have just as much right to it as they do!"

"Which is why I'm ordering Admiral Queen to order a force through the Ring and to establish a foothold on Kobol and fire if fired upon. We're not starting a war with Earth, not over Kobol."

"But sir, we need to speak with the President don't we? Something like this needs Presidential authorization," one of the Admirals spoke up.

"Adar's a pansy, he wouldn't let us through if without forming a committee on it. We have to act now before the opportunity is taken right from under our noses. We have to make this happen. And if things come to blows, Gods' forbid, we can blame it on Earth."

"And besides, who'll the people believe, a wayward lost colony or their own military?"

"Plausible deniability gentlemen, that is the key. If Earth refuses to allow us on Kobol and fires the first shot, we have deniability, if they don't we have an effective foothold on Kobol. Send word to Admiral Queen, tell him to prepare his team for immediate deployment through the Ring."

Terra Nova, Terra Nova Command

"Colonel Carter," the voice of her personal assistant spoke up on the intercom.

"Yes Sergeant," she replied, tapping the button without even looking from her current item of interest, the ongoing report on the construction of the Enterprise.

"Lieutenant General O'Neill is here to see you," the man said, but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Yes I am Carter, surprise!"

"Show him in please Sergeant," Carter replied, smiling warmly. She got up from her desk to straighten out her Airman Battle Uniform, a utility uniform that was becoming standard issue for the SGC's officers, SF's, and other personnel. She'd avoided wearing it for a number of years, but now that the old uniforms were being phased out she just had to concede that he would have to wear it sooner or later.

The door opened and in walked General O'Neill in an identical uniform, a great big smile on his face, "Hiya Carter, how goes the land of glowing trees?"

"Fine sir," Carter replied, snapping off a salute, "I'm sorry that the place is…"

"Carter, it's fine, I wanted to surprise you. That's why the Alaska dropped me off instead of going through the gate. I've got some news, part of it pertains to you and your command of Terra Nova."

"Really?"

"Sit down, let me tell you all about it," O'Neill said, plopping himself down on a couch.

"Well, I'm listening sir," Carter asked.

"I'll start with the more serious news, it has to do with disclosure."

"Disclosure? We're doing it?"

"No not yet, but soon. The President and the other national leaders have begun seeing the need for more manpower than we can field with the program a secret, and things have become relatively quiet nowadays with no imminent danger to Earth itself so it's now or never according to the politicians."

"Well sir…what's the plan? I mean something like the Stargate Program can't just be thrown out there. We have to have a plan of action and responses to all potential contingencies."

"I have some folks drawing those up back at the Pentagon. But the President, with the advice of the IOA of all people, has given me a set of priorities for disclosure."

"Well what are they?" Carter asked, afraid to know the answer.

"Well the first is to have a plan for disclosure in stages in the long term, with the more volatile details kept out of the early reports declassified information, stuff like how close we were to being destroyed by Apophis or Anubis or the Replicators or the Ori or the Wraith, you get the picture," O'Neill said, "Then they wanted to set up a safe haven world that could serve as a viable place to colonize. To be honest that'll be a synch, Terra Nova. Then they want us to start building civilian ships like exploration ships, satellites, shipyards, and cargo ships for trade. I'm still convinced we should have the civilians do it themselves or at least have them pay a pretty penny for those types of things, the deficit would sure be helped if we did that."

"Oh we could eliminate the deficit entirely if we sold patents to civilian companies in less than a decade," Carter said.

"I know right?! But they also wanted some kind of large training facilities for special large scale units of international troops especially trained and equipped for offworld operations and an Academy for training officers for these units. Not only that but they want us to look into an off-world university that specializes in advanced sciences and offworld cultures."

"Those shouldn't be too hard sir," Carter responded, "We have the experience and brightest minds to do it too. And volunteers would not be hard to get."

"Yeah, the hardest part would be crowd control among the geeks and nerds."

"Sir, you may want to remember that you're surrounded by people you can classify as geeks or nerds," Carter responded with a bit of a half condescending tone.

"Right, well anyway, they haven't given me a date for disclosure but it is now confirmed at the highest level that it will happen. Looks like we're finally going to get the credit we deserve after all these years."

"Looks like it sir, but there's still…"

"Unscheduled offworld activation," the speakers cried out as the red pulsating light on her desk went off.

"Well, looks like we'll have to finish this conversation later sir," Carter grumbled, getting up to head to Stargate Operations.

"But I didn't tell you about the news from the Joint Chiefs yet…"

Carter stopped, seeing O'Neill holding up a black velvet box in his hand over his head. She gasped at first, hurriedly thinking it was a diamond ring, but then, she realized that it was something else entirely. She reached out and took the box, and opened it to see that in the middle of it was a pair of silver five pointed stars the symbol of a Brigadier General. She'd been promoted!

"Congratulations Brigadier General Samantha Carter," O'Neill grinned, saluting her and then shaking her hand.

"Thank you sir," she said looking at the pair of stars that would go on both shoulders. But then she remembered that the gate had activated, "Oh right, the gate."

"Right," O'Neill said, walking out behind his newly promoted subordinate.

Carter walked hurriedly to the gate control where the crew of ten officers and technicians were working as usual as a squad of marines was waiting with weapons aimed at the closed iris before them. On the screen in the back of the room was the face of General Landry. He had a look of great concern on his face as men and women walked around behind him doing their own jobs in the SGC.

"General Carter, I'd like to extend the hand of congratulations but unfortunately there's a situation on Kobol that needs urgent attention," Landry said.

"What kind of situation?" O'Neill asked, now going into a mode of absolute business.

"A probe came through the Olympus's gate after Dr. McKay reactivated it but wasn't able to get the shield up and running by the time the gate was dialed in from the Colonials' own new SGC, they demanded access to Kobol," Landry reported, "Of course Colonel Mitchell told them politely no. But now the Colonials may be pissed and preparing a forced entry through the gate."

"Oh great," O'Neill groaned, "Tell Mitchell to get that shield up or disable the gate in the city. We can't let the Colonials get a hold of that type of technology."

"Already done, we're evacuating all civilians from the surface and have begun to fortify both gates. But Mitchell is asking for an updated set of Rules of Engagement."

O'Neill looked down as he thought of this new situation and realized the rules of engagement he chose to give Mitchell would decide the fate of their state of relations with the Colonials, if he decided to give the go ahead to a fire if fired upon order then that gave the Colonials, who were on equal footing in a ground combat scenario with them, the initiative. And with an enemy that deadly if you concede that then you'd might as well surrender. But, if he gave Mitchell the order to shoot first if threatened then the Colonial would have a pretext to war and Earth would be seen as the aggressors. It was a no-win situation but he had to make a call, and he had to do it now.

"Tell Mitchell do not fire unless fired upon, we're not starting another war."

"Very well, and Jack, there was something else that Colonel Mitchell reported. Apparently our good friends the ascended beings have decided to interfere on both sides."

"Oh great, can they seriously make up their minds already? First they don't want to interfere, then they want to," O'Neill groaned, "What did he say?"

"He said that the Colonials' gods are split over whether or not to help them or help us, and so both sides have an ascended being advising them at the moment. And it looks like the Colonials have a head start on finding some pretty advanced items."

"What kind of items?"

"ZPM's, three of them that lead to Kobol and will be able to power up Olympus."

"Well we're going to have to get to them first."

Marinestar _Ravager_, in orbit over Frencalis

Captain Lee Adama was quite busy compiling a detailed report of the events that led up to the downing of Starbuck's Viper, then her eventual rescue. Even out here in the middle of deep space paper work followed him around. It was a necessary evil, this was a fairly major incident that nearly got them into a shooting fight with an Earth Battlecruiser that coincidentally was called _Apollo_, the same name he called himself whenever he was in the cockpit of a Viper or Raptor. And he was aboard the Ravager to deliver it in person to General Kilroy, the commanding officer of ground forces for the expedition and the architect of Starbuck's rescue. He'd watched the whole rescue from the Surveyor, parked off to the side in high orbit as to stay clear of what was going on with the big warships and their tense encounter with the Earth ship that had shown to try and help on the condition they stayed off of the planet. And he'd been stewing on that little fact for quite a while now and just couldn't get it out of his mind even as he walked into the CIC of the _Ravager_ where the Marine General was busy speaking with one of his Colonels on the recent recovery of the Raptor that had been hit by a shell during the rescue mission.

"General Kilroy sir," Lee saluted.

"Captain, I see you completed your report," the man said, returning the salute.

"Yes sir, I also came to check on the status of Lieutenant Thrace sir," Apollo smartly replied.

"Well no need to worry about her Captain, she's just fine. A twisted ankle is all she's got going on at the moment and should be ready to return to active duty once she's debriefed and medically cleared."

"Good to know sir," Apollo replied, but then saw something out of the corner of his eye. He walked over to a small plotting table that was half covered in reconnaissance photos and slid one in front of him and saw what appeared to be a large airfield with a great many hangars, buildings, and other facilities that seemed out of place for an airfield of that size. But it was pock marked with craters and wreckage making it seem like it was very regularly targeted, "What is this sir?"

"That? Just someplace that the _Surveyor_ claimed was giving off really strange readings. A unique type of radiation and a massive power burst every so often. It's probably just a large science facility of one of the warring powers."

Apollo simply nodded, but then, a strange shape appeared on the plotting table in front of him. It was tall, and it glowed strange orange light through a web of black lines from that traced along its crystalline structure. He stared at it for a few seconds, feeling the air itself bristle with static electricity. Then he looked back at the picture, and saw that the central building, a large hexagonal structure, was outlined in a gold ring. But then, as quickly as it appeared it disappeared as if it were never there. And as it went out a cool gust of wind seemed to wrap itself around him, startling him greatly and made him stand straight up.

"Ready for FTL jump General," one of the crewmen at the controls of the ship's navigation station called out.

"Very well," the General stated.

As the crewmen called out on the intercom Apollo saw something, no someone, appear out of thin air before him. It was the figure of a young woman looking directly at him with startling blue eyes with her blonde hair waving in a nonexistent wind. She stared right at him and with one smooth voice she spoke to him.

"You know what it is you must do Captain."

And then, she was gone, leaving Lee standing there, totally awestruck. He didn't know what it was he had just seen but he knew one thing was certain. It was important.

Choros, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command

The Admiral stood in front of the gathered squad leaders of the finest soldiers in the Colonies, the RSEC Exploration Squads. Each was a hand-picked batch of fifteen brave, smart, and loyal individuals with an average experience level of fifteen years in the service of the Colonies. Their commanding officers were of the ranks of Captains but their overall CO was a Colonel by the name of Henry Black that had become infamous among the most secret of circles for being a deadly soldier who had never failed a single mission. This went all the way from his first assignment as a Lieutenant on Tauron during the Cylon War to his numerous black ops missions against pirates, rebels, and terrorists. He was just the man for this job.

"You men are all wondering why you are here before me, the rumor going around is that we have found Kobol, and Earth has beat us to it. This is correct, and not only is Earth there they are preventing us from walking through the ring to return to Kobol to seek the truth of our past. We have tried negotiating with them, but their decision appears final, they will not allow us onto to Kobol," the men all began looking around at one another, wary of where this was going. But each of them felt a boiling anger at this insult to the Colonies by Earth. Kobol was theirs, not just Earth's birth place, but the birth place of all Humanity and they deserved a share of what the Lord left behind and the truth of what happened on Kobol those thousands of years ago, "But our orders are clear and I have made sure of them myself. Kobol is ours, and no one will stand in our way."

Standing above the group of soldiers was Gaius Baltar watching the speech and briefing being given out to the soldiers and officers of E-Squads One through Six. He watched with complete horror as the Colonials talked of the coming mission and the fighting that was sure to come. As he stood there he could feel the presence of his ever present spirit girlfriend. She walked up next to him and smiled.

"You know Gaius, it doesn't take a genius to know this was coming."

"Why do you say that?" Baltar gasped, quite taken off guard.

"It has been foretold of course."

"What's been foretold?"

"All of this happened before and will happen again."

**And done, as you can see things will begin to heat up between the two here fairly quickly. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Unfortunately the next update will take some time so don't be surprised if it's late September by the time I update again. Also, post-note, that bit about plasma I got off of Wikipedia and modified it a bit.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The_ Enterprise_ rises, and history repeats itself.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Well, I lied, I have been working on this. School starts a little bit slowly here, so I decided to get some work done and give you guys a reason to not be hanging off of a cliff. So here's the next chapter, and I do hope this one meets the expectations you have been setting for me. **

**But before you read it seems that I need to say a few things to those of you who are really stingy about canon with the ascended, Colonial tech, and Earth crusaders. I realize that the Ori had an entire galaxy to worship them, and I realize the Colonials comprise only a handful of worlds. But to be fair they have a massive population relative to the average population of the populations of other worlds. And I also don't care about the particulars dealing with this. I have bigger things to worry about than explaining exactly how the ascended can or can't interfere with what is going on, and so I will tell you that it is simply creative liberty to help intensify the plot. Next is the whole Pegasus being upgraded thing, yes the Colonials have that ability to make that electromagnetic field. Hell we had it in World War Two, it was called degaussing. It was a process of using a series of coils to create a magnetic field that could eliminate the magnetic signature of a ship's hull, it wasn't permanent, and things had to be precariously placed and maintained but this was in the forties! It stands to reason that the Colonials have the capability of much grander stuff. Also, the other upgrades on the Pegasus, for those of you who have said that they have not had enough time to do that, you clearly have short memories, as in an earlier chapter I described how Colonial Intel had never stopped advancing its tech base, giving the Colonials a much stronger tech base than you all seem to realize, in fact Colonial Intel is forty years **_**ahead **_**of the rest of the Colonial military. Now, for you Earth crusaders who just want Earth to curbstomp the Colonials, go read another story or write your own, it's been used to death, time for a change of pace. Now that I've got that off of my chest on to the story.**

**Chapter 20**

Date: July 25, 2014

Time: 1500 Hours

Location: Kobol, City Ship Olympus

"McKay! How could you not notice that the shield wasn't activated when you reset the gate to be the dominant one?!" Sheppard demanded, quite pissed off.

"Well I was busy with having an ascended being stare at me and trying to fix the rest of this city. I can't do everything at once Sheppard," McKay growled as he tinkered underneath the console housing the control crystal to the city's DHD that allowed this gate to function. But once he did that, one of the technicians walked up to him.

"Doctor, I just went over the control panels and I think you'll want to see this," she said, handing him a tablet that must have contained something bad.

McKay grumbled something to himself and then turned to the others, "And there's another problem."

"Oh what's one more, we already have enough of them, what's one more going to do?" Mitchell groaned.

"There isn't a shield," McKay said, handing back the tablet, "This gate doesn't seem to have it installed."

"I'm sorry, did you say no shield? As in not present?" Jackson asked, trying to be sure that he was hearing him correctly.

"What part of not installed didn't you get? This city's database shows several structural and technical differences between it and Atlantis. If I were to guess I'd say that this one was the prototype. A lot of the bells and whistles that we take for granted on Atlantis aren't installed here."

"Like what?" Jackson asked.

"The iris shield for one, the control systems are not nearly as complex and effective as Atlantis, and you can add several minor structural differences to that list as well."

"What does that mean exactly?" Ronon asked, a bit confused.

"It means that its older and has suffered through some cataclysmic trauma, probably from the Colonials' ancestors' big crusade here thousands of years ago. It looks like numerous shock waves cracked several key structural supports and the advent of weathering only made it worse, its power system is damaged which means the Star Drive is not as powerful which means it is grounded. And without an iris shield it's…"

"Nearly untenable," Mitchell mumbled, "Alright is this gate no longer functioning? We don't need to worry about it?"

"Yes, taking the control crystal out totally removed it from the network, now the gate in the hills is the primary gate on Kobol," McKay replied.

"Good, Sheppard, you and your team on me, McKay you stay here."

"What? Why do I have to stay here?" McKay asked.

"Because I want you to erase the database of all technological specifications and scientific files. Leave only the city's logs so if we can't hold the city all the Colonials will get is a history lesson that proves their deities are fakes," Mitchell responded, "We'll be at the second gate, in case the Colonials come knocking."

"Why are we even letting them go through that gate?" Teyla asked.

"Because it's a bluff. If the Colonials see nothing but forest we may be able to trick them into thinking that they dialed the wrong planet and they'll just leave."

"Why not just bury that gate?" McKay asked, "Or flip it upside down?"

"Because if we flip it facing down a large Colonial party will not fit into the cavity and kill them. And if we flip it upside down they will go up and then back down, killing them that way. And we also don't have the manpower or the equipment to dig a hole big enough to seal the gate in time."

"Oh, right," McKay responded, "I'll just get to work on the…"

"You do that," Sheppard grinned, standing by the others ready to be beamed to the primary gate location.

"_Aquila_, seven to beam to Gate Point Alpha," Mitchell ordered into his headset, and was then enveloped in a sheath of white light that whisked them all away to the Stargate in the woods.

"Alright, whoa…" McKay groaned, nearly tripping over the large Colonial MALP that was still sitting in the gate room, "Can we get this thing out of here, and dismantled, I don't want this thing's transponder to go off and alert any Colonial landing party where this thing is."

"Yes doctor," a young woman said from where she was scanning the MALP inquisitively.

"Thank you," McKay groaned, looking at the large and well-designed object as he went up the steps to get to work, "Wait a minute."

Choros, Colonial Ring Security and Exploration Command

The six assembled Exploration/Strike Squads were doing final equipment checks in the gate room alongside a full platoon of Marines assigned to ring security. Their CO, Colonel Black, was reading over a last minute report on Colonel Mitchell, or at least what the dossier on him had. He knew that someone like Mitchell would be put in command if their command structure was any different to theirs so he would need to know who he was and what he might do. Unfortunately any information pertaining to command style, battle tactics, or leadership style seemed to be absent, as the Colonials hadn't seen him in combat before. He also knew potential hostile numbers were unknown and that they would be dug in. But hopefully, any attempt at diplomacy would make his mission null and void and he'd be able to step down and let civilians do the work that was needed, searching for technology that could help supplement the Colonial Armed Forces against threats both known and unknown.

"Colonel," the voice of Admiral Queen called out on the speaker, "Are your troops prepared?"

"Yes sir, all squads check out green. We're ready when you are sir."

The Colonial officer was in charge of a company sized force of ninety men and women, all armed to the teeth with assault rifles, pistols, light machine guns, a few rocket launchers, shotguns, and most importantly, a stun gun that fired electrocuted barbs like a harpoon that were meant for immobilizing a foe. It was used by federal and planetary law enforcement as an attachment to pistols, rifles, shotguns, etc. and was extremely effective. His orders were to use the stunners as a first resort, not his lethal bullets. He didn't know how effective they would be against heavily armed and potentially armored Earth troops, but he would simply have to hope that they would work.

His troops were outfitted in an all-black uniform that was supplemented by well-connected wireless in their normal light-weight helmets, a light weight Kevlar vest, knee pads, elbow pads, tactical goggles, combat knife, bayonet, grenades, flash bangs, smoke grenades, and extra ammunition was all tucked away, strapped down, or pocketed. Everything else like food and heavier loner range communication equipment was tucked away on top of a small convoy of five Planetary Exploration Drones that were stripped of their normal armament except for one, and were piled on with small crates of supplies, ammunition, and equipment.

"Very well Colonel," the Admiral said, prepare your troops.

"Squads One and Two, take point, Squads Three, Four, and Five in the middle, Squad Six secure the drones and supplies. Move into position!" Colonel Black called out.

He saw his own squad, Squad One, moved into position on the right side of the ring, out of the line of fire from the event horizon. Squad Two was directly opposite of them, within feet of the ring with weapons locked and loaded. He saw the rest of the squads in line, ready to charge through the ring once the first two squads had secured the immediate area.

"All Squads in position sir, awaiting orders." the second in command, a Major named Golsten, called out.

"Very well," Colonel Black responded, and then heard the ring start to activate, "Here we go, lock and load, remember, stun weapons only, keep your fingers off of the triggers. We don't want a war starting."

The ninety men and women of the force began to tense up as the ring started activating. Red alert lights flashed throughout the room as sirens broadcast the message to the entire sector of the base that was within the at risk zone of the base. The troops assigned to sentry duty quietly began wishing the outgoing troops luck with subtle gestures. Then, the moment of truth, with a sudden whoosh of water the ring activated and the Colonials tensed up as they awaited their order to head through.

The Admiral up in the control then nodded to the drone operator behind him who attempted to connect with the drone that had been left on Kobol before in an attempt to verify the local environment was or was not secure. But as the Admiral watched the ring's rippling glow he noticed that he wasn't hearing the go-ahead from the operator.

"What's taking so long ensign?"

"I-I don't know sir. I'm not getting any signal from Drone Zero One at all."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes sir, no transponder signal, no camera, no audio, and no response from the control board," the young officer replied, desperately trying to follow his orders.

"Could it be your equipment?" the Admiral asked.

"No sir, we check and double check everything in here before ring activation."

"Hmm…they must have sabotaged the drone," Queen growled, "Colonel, deploy mini drone. We have lost contact with the off planet drone."

"Roger that sir," the Colonel replied, and signaled one of his men accordingly.

Everyone watched as one of the troops reached into a crate on the rear most of the drones in the room and ran up with a foot long wheeled drone with a small camera on top with an antenna poking up for about a foot. He placed it down, switched it on and the control panel up in the control room lit up with the feed from the little vehicle. So taking control, the ensign piloted the drone forward, and everyone saw it zip right into the event horizon.

"What the…Admiral!" the ensign cried out, pointing at the screen.

"What in the world?" the Admiral gaped, he wasn't looking at an urban environment where there was supposed to be numerous Earth troops, waiting for the Colonials to come through.

"Sir?"

"Are you certain we've dialed the same address?" Admiral Queen asked.

Another officer, this one a Lieutenant nervously checked before responded, "Yes sir, we dialed exactly as we did the last time. This gate should be Kobol."

"Well this isn't the place we dialed last time, unless…" one of the other officers in the room interjected, but was interrupted by the Admiral.

"Unless those Earthers moved it to a forest nearby in an attempt to throw us off the trail. Only one way to find out."

"Sir?" the Commander in question asked, curious as to what his CO was thinking.

"Colonel Black, are you receiving visuals of the target locale?" the Admiral asked on the radio that he knew the Colonel and his troops were on.

"Yes sir I do, looks like we've dialed into the wrong planet or the ring has been moved."

"It is the exact same address Colonel, which is why I'm giving you the go to explore the area and find any evidence that the planet is in fact Kobol. Rules of engagement are the same, you are only to fire if fired upon. Do you understand Colonel Black?"

"Yes sir understood," Colonel Black responded.

"Gods' speed Colonel."

"So say we all," several of the officers said out loud.

"Alright lock and load!" the Colonel hollered, "Squad One move right and secure your flank, Squad Two move left and secure your flank. Squad Three will advance and secure the immediate area and cover. Squad Four will advance to twenty meters and clear the immediate front. Squad Five will secure the rear of the ring. Squad Six will advance with supplies and equipment. Be advised, Earth forces may be in the AO, do not fire unless fired upon!" Colonel Black called out, and then moved up to the rippling pool at the head of Squad One, then took a deep breath and then pulled down his goggles over his eyes, "Move out!"

With one deep breath he charged forward, and just like that, with orders, an objective, and rules of engagement the Colonial column began streaming forward, following their commander. The gurgling noise of their bodies entering the event horizon rang out like a long rippling noise that was practically indescribable. They advanced knowing that they could potentially be walking into a hail of gunfire. But every man ran forward, confident in the abilities of themselves and their comrades.

In the observation rooms on both sides of the gate room dozens of Colonial scientists, technicians, engineers, soldiers, and officers all watched in apprehensive pride and anticipation as their finest men women charged into the ring. Many said a silent prayer, others sat in silence, while some wished to be among them. But they all knew that their efforts had not been in vain, they'd achieved it, they'd taken their first steps into the galaxy via Stargate.

Kobol, Highlands

The intense feeling of going through the gate was unlike anything that Colonel Black had ever experienced. He'd been through every manner of hardship and pain imaginable through his thirty years of service in the Colonial military. He'd broken many bones, been shot many times, nearly drowned, even electrocuted a couple of times. But this sensation was different, and nearly tripped him up for a moment. But he recovered, remembering that he was now in a kill zone and had to secure his position.

"Move, clear the ring!" he yelled, waving his troops to their assigned positions.

He himself made a beeline to the large console directly in front of him that he was told was a device that could activate the ring and send them home. He had to be sure it was intact so that he could know whether or not his possibility for getting his men and women off of this planet was even there. He ducked down behind the stone console and aimed his weapon out into the thick wet woods that were seemingly empty and silent. He chanced a look at the console, and saw that it was wet, but everything seemed to be in perfect order. The only noises he heard were the talking and boot stomping of his own unit coming through the gate. He saw members of Squad Four charge past him, setting up their perimeter as instructed. Each one of them was jumpy, with weapons darting back forth, eyes and heads darting around to take in as much as possible so that no surprises were thrown their way. Then he heard the electric engines of the drones carrying their supplies and heavy equipment come through the gate as Squad Six drove them forward, circling them up tightly to provide a bit of cover. Then silence.

"Admiral, this is Colonel Black, area is secure, dial home console seems to be in one piece," he spoke into his microphone that was right by his mouth.

"Very good Colonel, we'll be dialing in every three hours for a status report. Good luck," the radio crackled.

"Thank you sir," the Colonel responded, looking around himself at the steep hill to his right that seemed to be perfectly situated for someone to fire down on them with a machine gun.

And then the gate deactivated, leaving the teams all alone within the depths of a dark wet forest on another planet. It was only then that the squads all began to register how cold and how humid it truly was in that wet forest, and how quiet everything seemed to be.

"Squad leaders!" Colonel Black called out, keeping his voice down, "On me."

He watched as five men parted from the ranks of their squads and hustled over to him.

"Orders sir."

"Okay, first set up a firm perimeter, starting with that ridge, Squad Three, that's you, secure that high ground and call out anything you see or find. Squad Five, fan out to the area behind the ring, set up positions fifteen yards out, LMG's dispersed evenly among positions."

"We're digging in sir?"

"No, I wanna keep our troops mobile, at least until we verify that our position is secure. Now Squad Two will fan out to fifteen yards to the left flank, same thing goes for you, call out anything odd or suspicious. Squad Four will fan out on both sides of this trail ten yards forward. Squad Six will set up base camp and consolidate. Set up our tents two yards apart, I don't want our sentries spread too thin. Squad One will recon the area ahead. Radio check every ten minutes."

"Roger that sir."

"Move."

Kobol, Fifty yards from Colonial Basecamp

Colonel Mitchell watched from a goof fifty yards away on top of a hill that the trail turned in front of which gave him and the balance of five SG Teams a perfect view point to keep an eye on the Colonial beach head that was now swarming with black uniformed troops who moved and acted exactly like their Earth equivalents.

"That's a lot of troops," Mitchell grumbled, looking through his binoculars.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, "The Colonials appear to be setting up a base to secure the Stargate."

"Yeah, it looks like they're here to stay too. I'm seeing a lot of equipment on those MALP's."

"Colonel, looks like they're fanning out, I count fifteen Colonials heading down the trail. The rest are consolidating a perimeter," Colonel Sheppard pointed out.

"One group is headed towards that ridge, trying to get the high ground," Ronon said, pointing at a black line of black shapes struggling up the steep and mossy slick hill.

"Well we can get 'em down from there easily enough," Sheppard said, "We're only outnumbered five to one or thereabouts?"

"Faced worse," Ronon growled.

"We are not allowed to engage the Colonials as of yet Ronon, they have not made any aggressive moves towards us," Teal'c responded.

"They haven't even seen us yet," Ronon replied.

"And that's the way it'll stay, at least until they threaten to compromise Olympus," Mitchell ordered, watching the Colonial scouts go walking down the trail in a pair of lines seven strong with one man in the middle of the formation with binoculars in his hands.

Mitchell saw that he was scanning the area, and decided not to take any chances and to order everyone back out of sight. So with a simple wave of his hand the twenty men and women slid back slowly away from the lip of the hill. He had an SG Team from Russia, outfitted with AK-12's and a PKP Pecheneg Squad Automatic Weapon, one from Taiwan outfitted with the T-91, one from the Netherlands, outfitted with G-36K's, and his team and Sheppard's team outfitted with P-90's with Ronon being the exception as he always carried his particle magnum. All told, he had only one machine gun, several assault rifles, and some SMG's. He could plainly see that the Colonials were packing much heavier gear. There were at least a dozen light machine guns, several sniper rifles, a few shotguns and what appeared to be rocket launchers strapped to a few men's backs. So he was vastly outgunned for the moment as well as outnumbered, so an engagement would be out of the question until either reinforcements arrived or until he could peacefully get the Colonials to leave. But from the reports and what his own eyes were telling him he wasn't going to have much luck trying that. His only real hope was that the Colonials wouldn't find anything, conclude this wasn't Kobol and leave.

"Alright, let's hear plan," the Russian CO said as they returned to the opposite side of the hill.

"We wait and watch, if the Colonials get too close to Olympus we'll make ourselves known and ask for the politicians to decide how and if we can arrange for them to send a team to study Olympus while they just stay put."

"And if they discover us?" the Taiwanese CO asked.

"Same plan, tell them we're just following orders, let's have the politicians take care of it. That way we can just buy time until reinforcements arrive."

"What if they find that tomb? Will they not just activate the device that sent you to the city in the first place?" Teyla asked.

"Already took care of that," Jackson said, pulling the two red and blue stones from his vest and showing them to the rest of the team, "McKay said that these things give off a certain radiation that seemed to have activated the tomb's transporter when they were set down on the scale in the right way."

"McKay told you that?" Mitchell grumbled.

"Well I also tried it myself, it works."

"Okay, so plan is to wait?" the Russian asked again.

"Yes Ivan we wait."

"Fine, I don't like waiting."

"Neither do I. But we're just going to have to wait and watch, there's no telling what these guys will do so we'll have to tread carefully. And if the way they treated the _Hammond_ when we first met is a clue they'll try and stomp all over us and attempt intimidation."

"You think I'm intimidated by them?" Ronon asked as if it were some great joke.

"No Ronon I don't. But I'm a bit afraid that they might try something a bit rash."

"Like hold us at gunpoint type rash?" Sheppard asked.

"More or less."

Deep Space, Battlestar _Galactica_ Kobol Expedition Fleet

Admiral Adama was sitting in his office on a couch reading going over the report from the rescue mission of Starbuck, as he should have as commanding officer, when the Marine posted outside his door stepped inside.

"Sir, Captain Adama would like to speak with you sir."

"Bring him in," he said, not looking up from his reading.

"Yes sir, the Admiral will see you sir," the Marine said, easily within earshot.

Adama heard the soft boot steps of his son entering his quarters and took off his reading glasses and stood up, expecting to return the salute of his son. And he did, seeing Apollo walk in and salute crisply.

"Sir, I-I needed to speak with you about something," Apollo said, a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"If it's about Starbuck I have your report so there's no need unless you left something off of it," Adama replied.

"No it's…" Apollo looked behind himself, making sure the door was closed, "I saw something that I don't know how to explain."

"Go on…" Adama said, furrowing his brow in curiosity.

"I had gone into the _Ravager_'s CIC to deliver my report to General Kilroy, and I noticed some recon photos taken of the planet's surface. One of them was of a large base of some kind. From what the General told me it was a research facility that was giving off large amounts of power and radiation every so often that they couldn't really explain."

"I have those photos as well. There's something you're not telling me Lee. What is it?"

"I saw something out of the corner of my eye, like a big orange crystal that was glowing. It was about a foot and half tall, maybe four inches in diameter."

"Like this?" Adama asked, grabbing a piece of paper from his desk that had the item in question drawn on it. Lee was astounded, snatching it right from his father's grasp.

"How did…"

"I saw it too, and something else. Or someone."

Lee searched his mind, then drew a conclusion, "A woman with blonde hair, a gold leaf thing on her head and white dress?"

"Yes, it was Athena, she showed me three of those, said they were markers on the route to Kobol and once gathered would be able to bring light Olympus, or that's what she claimed."

"They must be some kind of power source. It makes sense now, this place was putting out serious power spikes. And bring light to Olympus? That's exactly what they have to be. And I think she showed me one, right here," Lee pointed, tapping his finger on the photo in question, right on top of the main building.

"Are you certain?" Adama asked, leaning over and examining the picture of the base.

"Yes, quite certain. It was in a gold ring that showed up then faded away."

"We can't leave this behind, especially considering how important this could be to the expedition and the Colonies," Adama grumbled, tapping his chin, "But we can't send a large ship. That Earth ship, Apollo, is shadowing us and will swoop right down on top of any mission launched from a large ship in orbit."

"So something small, like a Raptor?"

"We'll need one hell of a pilot for that."

"Well there's only one pilot I trust enough to do that."

"Who would that be?"

"Kelsey," Lee said, expecting the shocked expression from his father's face.

"Kelsey? Why her?"

"Because she's my sister, and she's every bit as good a pilot as I am. Granted she was the victim of an accident but that was outside her own control, but she's one of the best pilots on the Galactica. I also want Starbuck, she's been on the planet before, she'll know what to expect."

"And how many Raptors would this mission take to pull off?" Adama asked.

"Only one, if all goes well we'll be in and out before they know that we were even there."

"Alright, I'm putting you in charge of organizing the mission."

"Thank you sir," Lee said, walking out.

"Lee, one more thing," Adama said, "Bring everyone home. No one gets left behind."

Terra Nova, Terra Nova Command

"Carter you realize that this is a decade overdue right?"

"Yes sir I realize that," the newly promoted Brigadier General Carter responded as she stood on the bridge of the _Alaska _next to General O'Neill.

"Just wanted to make sure you knew," O'Neill responded.

The two of them watched as the final pieces of the USS _Enterprise_, the largest ship in Earth's fleet were fastened together by several automated drones that were specifically programmed for the task of ship maintenance, repair, and in this case, construction. The Enterprise's massive hull and quad hangars were already taking shape. The hull from bow to stern was one thousand two hundred meters long and from widest point to widest point it was four hundred and fifty meters and in total height it was two hundred and seventy meters. All in all it was bigger and badder than any ship in the known universe. It's massive generators gave it a shield strength five times that of a BC-304, of which several were in close attendance and were made out to be puny in comparison to the new Battle Carrier. Her armament was unlike anything before it. It's one hundred and twenty rail guns were capable of sending a flak screen so deadly that an entire Hive Ship's Dart compliment would be obliterated upon leaving their Dart Bays. And if the numerous rail guns were then used against a Hive Ship itself it would tear it to pieces within the course of a ten minute battle. Then there were hundreds of missiles it could unleash in a matter of moments ranging from standard warheads to Valkyrie jump drive equipped ship to ship missiles, and then a specialized set of missile tubes for Horizon nuclear missile platforms. And that wasn't its deadliest feature. It had fourteen plasma beam weapons that were arranged all along its hull so that no place was safe from its crosshairs. Nothing was able to survive for more than a few moments when it was within range. Then there was the massive fighter compliment of three hundred F/A-302B's that could take on Hive Ships, Hat'aks, and Battlestars in a one on one fight. It also contained its own facilities to build and replace Banshees, Mohicans, and Ghosts that were lost in battle, making it perfect for the purpose of being the finest show of Earth's newly found military and technological prowess.

With Carter in complete command of Terra Nova Command O'Neill had been glad to report to the Joint Chiefs and the President that the shipyards could now begin to crank out ship after ship faster than a crew could be put together and trained to crew them. The new F/A-302B Banshee Space Superiority Strike Fighters were now in full production in several ground side factories that were cranking them out at an even pace of fifty a day so as not to burn out the matter synthesizers that made the factories viable and to preserve the naquadah generators that kept the lights on. The new A-309 Mohican Gunships were also in production, with roughly twenty already built and awaiting assignment in their protected warehouses beneath the surface that fed up to the surface air field where they could be paired with their pilots and then flown up to their assigned vessels. The U-306's were already being deployed in large numbers, with every single ship in the fleet having one or two of them aboard for covert recon and Search and Rescue purposes. In fact only two factories hadn't begun to crank out their charged products. Two factories slated to build two types of armored vehicles hadn't yet been given the needed blue prints and programming to build the enormously complex M-401 Thor Main Battle Tank and M-402 Honey Badger Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

The Thor was slated to have a rapid fire 125 mm main gun, capable of firing a high explosive armor piercing tungsten/uranium encased shell at extremely speeds exceeding normal tank guns. Its high density trinium/naquadah/carbon alloyed hull was practically impenetrable to any known infantry deployed weapon as well as modern tanks guns. They were also very, very fast, capable of going seventy miles per hour on flat tarmac and fifty on rougher terrain. Its power plant, a naquadah powered electric motor had a higher torque than any other engine of its size in existence with a solid two thousand three hundred horsepower to boot, and finally, because it was naquadah powered, it was very quiet, and had little to no heat signature from engine exhaust. To crew this monster it only took three tankers, which meant that they could be fielded in larger numbers once they were deployed. It was crewed by a tank commander, a gunner, and a driver. And also in its repertoire was an anti-infantry arsenal of two axial mini-guns, and a pair of fifty caliber heavy machine guns on the turret that could be manually controlled or remote controlled. It also had the most deadly fire control computer in existence that could aim the machine guns, cannon, or the Javelin missile launcher mounted on both sides of the turret, each carrying two of the deadly wire guided missiles. Then there was the Honey Badger IFV. This was perhaps the most useful vehicle in the SGC's arsenal. It could be outfitted with a protected turret with an anti-everything rail gun similar to what was used on board the ships of the fleet and as anti-aircraft batteries at the other Earth bases. It could be outfitted as a medical transport, a SAM carrying anti-aircraft vehicle, or a communications carrying command track. Its base model was similar in construction to a Bradley, but shorter with the same power plant and armor composition as its bigger cousin, the Thor. It had a crew of two, a commander and a driver, with a troop carrying capacity of ten, fully equipped soldiers that deploy out of the rear hatch. But perhaps its greatest asset was being able to drive through a Stargate. It was this type of adaptability that was now making Terra Nova a jewel in the SGC's arsenal for defending Earth.

"Generals," the man in charge of the _Alaska_ and her Battlegroup, Brigadier General Franks, called out, "I've received word from the engineers on the ground that the drones have completed the final phase of construction. Life support has activated, and artificial gravity is functioning. The Enterprise is finished and ready to take on her crew, supplies, and fighters."

"Very good General," O'Neill said, then clasped his hands together, "Shall we pay a visit to our new honking space ship?"

"Well we'll have to wait a little bit sir, the life support will take some time to support a crew."

"It's just us two Carter, what harm could just going over and taking a look around do?" O'Neill said, pointing at the General and nodded for him to prepare to beam them over to the Enterprise.

"Well, if it's just the bridge then we should be fine. But larger areas such as the hangars and most of the hallways are off limits."

"See, that's the spirit. General…"

The two of them stood still while the calculations were made to transport them over to the bridge of the massive vessel. And within a few seconds the familiar white light enveloped them and disappeared, leaving them in the semi-lit interior of the large bridge of the USS _Enterprise_. O'Neill took everything in, looking around at the numerous consoles, controls, and seats that were meant for a command crew of fifty. It's bridge had layout that drew inspiration from Star Wars, with many of the essential systems located on both sides of a walkway about five feet down from the six foot wide walkway that led all the way to the large window that gave a very good field of view for the command crew to view everything out in front of them. The rear of the bridge had several dedicated consoles for less important functions that were branched off into different rooms that all had an extremely easy to use and understand interface. Everything was shiny and new, the consoles all flashed the same message, "Awaiting Orders," and it was now finished.

"Kinda has that new ship smell doesn't it?" O'Neill asked, walking towards the back of the bridge.

"I'm not sure what new ship smells like but I suppose that it does," Carter replied following him.

"Hey, look at that," O'Neill pointed. He was looking at a large plaque that showed a large bronze circle with a black trim with the silhouette of the ship they currently found themselves on with twelve silhouettes around the edges of all shapes of different ships from sailing vessels to aircraft carriers to a space shuttle. Every American ship ever named _Enterprise_ was emblazoned with their likeness right alongside the newest in the line ships to be graced with that historic name. From the little sloop of the Continental Navy, to the Gray Ghost of World War Two, every one of them was there.

"Well it seems someone has a knack for the nostalgic," Carter chuckled, looking at the fine plaque.

"Yep, this ship has a quite the legacy to live up to. So let's let her get to work."

Near Gas Giant Ragnar, Battlestar_ Pegasus_

The whole crew of the _Pegasus _was at Condition One, with every gun, missile, Viper, and Raptor ready for battle. The ship had arrived a day ahead of schedule due to the rapid response of the crew to Admiral Cain's call to quarters a day before.

A crowd of several Battlestars, cruisers, and destroyers was standing off to the side, waiting for the newly upgraded Battlestar to snap into action against the numerous targets set out for her to test her newly equipped weapons against. Numerous old Colonial ships that had been pulled from the scrapyards to be put to their deaths by the_ Pegasus_, most of them were smaller destroyers and light cruisers, but also among them were several heavy cruisers, and a couple of old pre-Cylon War era Basestars and an old relic _Columbia _class Battlestar, the _Queen Hera_. It had been retired early after a devastating fire had crippled her engines and FTL which made her more expensive to repair than it was to replace her so she was scratched from the Fleet roster and doomed to the scrapyards. But now she had one last chance to serve, as a target. Among the numerous ships were hundreds of old Raiders that had been dug out of warehouses owned by the Graystone Corporation and were then adapted with cheap remote controlled guidance systems that would make them perfect for the _Pegasus_'s guns and her Vipers to turn to space dust.

In the CIC of the _Pegasus _Admiral Cain stood watching the DRADIS screen as the remaining target ships were towed into position and the tug ships scrambled out of the way. Her crew had been briefed on what to expect from their newly upgraded ship and had some time to practice with the new equipment so that her trials would go as smoothly as possible. Because Cain knew how badly the Fleet needed these new upgrades, and she was determined to make every shot, and every target worth every cubit spent on her ship.

"Colonel, are we ready?"

"Yes sir, all systems are green, all Vipers are in the tubes awaiting orders. All weapons are locked and loaded."

"Good, let's begin."

Far above the _Pegasus_ a single cloaked ship watched with interest as the latest innovation in the Colonials' arsenal began its trials. It was the _Odyssey_, and what she was about to see would send shock waves through both the Colonial high command and Earth's political leadership.

**There we go, I did what I could to try and get the cliff hanger a bit less…cliff hanger-y? I don't know how to phrase that but you get the idea. I hope you all enjoyed it, leave a review and tell me what you think. I will also be getting very busy so writing time will be a bit more difficult to come by as the semester goes on and things pick up.**

**Next Chapter Preview: The Pegasus proves why she's called the Beast. The Enterprise finds some long lost friends. Apollo and Lightbulb go after the Colonials' first ZPM. And the Kobol situation begins to evolve, but how will it evolve? Stay tuned. **


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks for waiting, sorry it's taken so long bla-bla-bla. Here's the chapter.**

**Chapter 21**

Date: July 26, 2014 

Time: 1745 Hours 

Location: Battlestar Galactica, Deep Space with Kobol Expedition Fleet

"The Fleet has reported in sir," Gaeta called out, "All ships are ready for jump on our signal."

"Very well," Admiral Adama said, turning to Dee, "Dee, inform Apollo his Raptor is to jump in tandem with Galactica."

"Yes sir," Dee said, turning her head set on, "Apollo, Galactica, time your jump in tandem with Galactica over."

"Copy that Galactica," Apollo was heard over the radio, "Will time jump accordingly."

"Mr. Gaeta, set Condition One throughout the Fleet," Adama ordered, "Just because we scouted the area doesn't mean that someone else hasn't."

"Yes sir," Dee replied, and started speaking over the radio.

Raptor Zero-One-Three

The single Raptor, piloted jointly by Kelsey Adama and Starbuck floated unmoving in between the Battlestar Galactica and the Destroyer Raven, ready to jump to its mission to acquire a single crystalline object believed to be a kind of power source left there by the Lords of Kobol. To accomplish this there was a five man Marine fire team from the Ravager who were experts in this type of mission type. All of this was under the command of Lee Adama who had been the one to alert the possible existence of the crystal on Frencalis to the Admiral.

"Are we good to go?" Apollo called out to the others.

"FTL is spun up, coordinates are double checked and locked in. We should appear in the high atmosphere fifty miles to the South of the target area if the calculations for the planetary spin and axis are correct," Kelsey responded, "We're good to go Lee."

"All set back here," the Marine Lieutenant in charge of his detachment said as well.

"Good, Starbuck?"

"Let's roll," the cocky blonde responded.

Lee grinned, knowing that he had himself a unit and a crew he could truly count on to do what was expected of them. He knew and trusted his sister as a highly skilled pilot, he knew that Starbuck was as feisty and adaptable as they came, he knew his Marines were the finest soldiers in the Fleet, and most importantly for a leader, he trusted in his own abilities to lead this op. He looked out at the massive expanse of metal and power before him as the Battlestars Galactica, Cerberus, and Helios all began retracting their flight pods as per protocol. The cruisers and destroyers lined up in a concentric formation that would provide complete coverage of the space around the fleet with flak and their capital guns. Inside every ship Vipers were readied for launch at a moment's notice and every Raptor was awaiting its turn to be shuttled through to the hanger deck to join any battle that erupted. Every small craft was loaded for bear with its maximum payload of missiles and ammunition. And most deadly of all of these measures taken by the guardian escorts of the civilian fleet was that every missile tube was loaded with nuclear missiles to be launched if conventional weapons were deemed ineffective.

The civilian ships were given orders to jump to a set rendezvous point should the situation be deemed untenable or if the escorts were overwhelmed. The area they were to be jumping to had been scouted earlier by a pair of Raptors that were still there awaiting the arrival of the fleet and were to report back if things were to change. But one could never be too sure. So the Colonial fleet was going to jump in with guns hot and Vipers in the tubes. But not all of them.

"Sir," one of the Marines asked as they watched the climactic scene about to unfold before them, "Why are we jumping with Galactica? Why not jump now and get this done quickly.

"Because of an Earth ship that's snooping around. Somehow they know exactly where we jump when we jump. So the entire fleet will move on to the next map point and use its jump as a distraction for us to jump into the target area and hopefully end up in the ionosphere and coat our jump signature from their sensors."

"It's kinda hard to see one Raptor jumping amongst three Battlestars and a shitload of escorts and civvies Private," the Lieutenant further explained.

"I'm just a snake eater sir, I don't know anything about this Fleet witchcraft," the same private responded with a cocky smile.

"Well I don't know much about ground pounding, but you do. So we'll be fine as long as we stick to what we're good at," Lee said.

"Sir Canberra doesn't know much about anything," another private piped up receiving a few chuckles.

Lee just let the bantering continue while the countdown dwindled to ten seconds. The two pilots, Starbuck and Kelsey shifted anxiously in their seats as they got ready to jump. The Marines too got into the trained mindset of battle situation. As space-born Marines their job came with atmosphere insertions from Raptors and the high gees that came with that. They tucked their weapons against their sides, keeping the safeties on and the magazines in their hands, ready to lock and load once their high gee ordeal was over. Experience had shown with the Marines a loaded weapon had a habit of not handling the stresses of high gees very well and liked to go off on its own. The countdown timer hit the point of no return mark: five…four…three…two…one.

In a single burst of flashes the Raptor saw the jumps of the Cerberus and the forward elements of the formation then the tide of flashes rolled all the back to the Galactica and on timed instinct the jump drive engaged, and the unique sensation of jumping engulfed the entire Raptor. The two pilots instinctively clutched the controls of their now plummeting craft as a warm orange glow began surrounding the canopy. A massive rattling noise of the ship trying to right itself jarred them while Starbuck and Kelsey calmly but firmly yanked on the stick to get the Raptor under control as it dove through the cloud cover. A single began whooping in complete joy as they continued to fall gracefully as the Raptor started to decrease its rate of descent. One of the other Marines snapped at the unruly jarhead as they began to finally level off.

"Captain, map-check. We need to set it down and now. I'm not having a repeat of my last little trip to this place," Starbuck called out as Lee turned to the screen.

"Alright hopefully those satellites the Surveyor placed are still operational…" Apollo said, mostly to himself as he tried to tap into the feed from the small bucket sized satellites, "And got it! Make your heading two one zero, landing zone is eighteen klicks distant."

"Looks like we've got some company up here," Kelsey called out, citing the DRADIS screen on her dash that was displaying a large formation of aircraft off in front of them.

"Probably a bombing raid," Starbuck said, "If what I was told was accurate the Jarens mount daily bombing raids on the Xeno air fields on the outskirts of the city that's nearby. And with these guys now fighting on the ground there's bound to be some combat air patrol trolling around."

"Well it's daylight so they'll be out in force," Lee said, looking out at the thick cloud cover lit up by a bright white sun.

"Oh definitely, they don't really operate at night. They have no effective night vision so they're limited to fly by sight," Starbuck said, "But thankfully for us, no air patrols for miles. And hopefully they've taken out their DRADIS, or whatever their version of it is, and we'll be able to approach unopposed."

"That's what I like to hear," Lee said, "Get us down. Marines, lock and load. I want a secure perimeter when we touch down."

"Aye sir, alright you heard the Captain, weapons tight, be ready for anything."

The Raptor dove down through the clouds at a blazing speed that easily allowed them to cover the distance to the target area without being subject to ground fire if there was any. Thankfully there wasn't, and they were able to descend rapidly and make it to a small clearing just barely big enough to hold the Raptor. A large camo tent was brought to conceal the Raptor should curious locals come knocking and just to be safe full combat gear was stowed away for the three pilots who would be holding the Raptor while the Marines nabbed the objective and returned.

The Raptor slowed, and everyone aboard tensed, this was a Raptor's most vulnerable point, when it was in its final stages of coming to rest on the ground. It was effectively stationary, yet still in the air, which meant that all of bad things about a military mission were in place for disaster. In flight you were able to maneuver and dodge, but you could still come crashing down. But on the ground, you were stationary, but at least you had a decent chance of survival. Here, everything bad was happening and nothing of the good was happening. So Kelsey very quickly dropped them down to the edge of the tree line and landed and the hatch opened. The Marines piled out, quickly fanning out in a ring to encircle the Raptor as it idled just in case they needed to take off again. The three pilots stayed in their seats, checking their own scanners to be sure nothing was coming for them from above. But thankfully, nothing did and the Marine Lieutenant waved the all clear in front of the Raptor canopy to let them know they were secure.

"Alright, Starbuck Kelsey get suited up," Lee said, taking off his helmet and snatching one of the sub machine guns by the hatch, "I'm going to help those Marines get us concealed."

The two of them nodded, and started unzipping their flight suits and quickly pulled on the battle dress uniforms stowed under their seats. Lee ducked out of the hatch of the Raptor and dragged the camouflaged tarp with him and waved a pair of Marines over to help him get it in place. It didn't take very long for them to yank the massive thing over the Raptor along with pieces of foliage to completely conceal their position. A small entrance into the Raptor's was propped open with a piece of paracord tied to a tree for ease of entry and exit for the pair of Adamas that were going to be left behind to guard the Raptor, Lee and Kelsey.

"Sir, we're all set," the Marine officer whispered to Adama as he and his troops along with Starbuck, who knew quite a bit about these people, prepared to move out, "Permission to move out."

"Alright, it's your show Lieutenant, report back every thirty minutes. Challenge is Viper, response is Raptor."

"Yes sir, understood sir," the Marine said, "Move out, Canberra you're on point, three meter increments."

"See ya Lee," Starbuck said, winking at him, "Lightbulb don't get captured by any Cylons while we're away."

"Just make sure you don't get hit over the head by a cave man," Kelsey chuckled, seeing her best friend off with a taunt aimed at how she'd been shot down by these seemingly primitive people in a semi modern Viper.

And then the Marines disappeared into the thick brush, leaving only two of their fellow Colonials to guard their only way off of this planet at war.

Battlestar Pegasus, in orbit near Choros

The single one of a kind Battlestar floated menacingly in front of a veritable fleet of targets of all shapes and sizes. Its crew was at battle stations, its guns loaded, and every eye in the area was locked on it with an eye for what it would do first.

"Helm, full speed ahead, come right twenty degrees," Cain ordered from her spot in front of the plotting table that was now a massive screen itself with the Pegasus in the center and all the contacts and celestial bodies around it shown in fairly decent detail. The downloaded training and trails scenario had painted the target formation red and a friendly formation that was off a ways observing in green. She saw and felt the ship jolt forward as the new and improved engines thrust the behemoth forward and the maneuvering rockets on her bow fired to bring onto the directed course, "All port batteries on hostile fighters on my mark."

A swarm of old barely functioning target drones and old pre-Cylon War era Raiders charged through the formation of targets aiming to maneuver past the Pegasus and test its new flak screens.

"All guns fire."

The entire left side of the Pegasus erupted in flames, as streams of tracers flew at a rapid pace out of the dozens of guns that targeted in on the numerous test waves. Explosions dotted the area in front of the formations as shrapnel and slugs pierced and tore away at the numerous craft. Their range far surpassed what the Pegasus had been able to do before, thanks in part to the higher velocities and far more enhanced computer systems. High density slugs from the rapid fire flak turrets easily passed through their intended targets, sending debris of all shapes and sizes twirling through space. The count dwindled from several hundred, to less than a hundred, then to a dozen and then to nothing but debris passing by the Pegasus and bouncing harmlessly off of her hull as she now turned and brought her new capital guns to bear on a pair of large freighters confiscated from drug dealers or smugglers.

"Full attack mode, fire all guns on targets seven and ten," Cain ordered, and felt the ship start to vibrate as the loudspeakers called out her orders.

The Pegasus vibrated minutely as the port batteries swiveled and fired their improved guns firing rapidly with high velocity high explosive rounds that pierced into the bellies of the civilian vessels at her mercy. Explosions ripped through the containers as the ships' tylium lines ruptured and sparked, creating gutting explosions that ripped chunks off of the large ships. Finally the lives of both civilian craft ended with a fireball that engulf the remaining pieces of the ships, turning them into expanding clouds of metal and dust. The guns continued their unceasing barrage into an old destroyer, this time the target didn't succumb as easily. It's smaller size allowed the remote controlled mechanisms within it to make it attempt to evade and avoid the numerous shells striking its thin armor. An entire one of its gun batteries was sheered clean off as one of Pegasus's gunners made a particularly well aimed hit, sending fire rippling through the little tin can's hull. More shells struck as the Pegasus fire directors decided to cut the little ship in half. The entire port battery concentrated its fire just forward of the engines, sending shell after high explosive shell tearing away at the little ship. Finally, a single titantic explosion ripped apart the ship sending the splintered engines into the relic Battlestar Queen Hera, which shrugged off the hit like nothing happened.

"Bring us about, starboard batteries fire at will. Bring us head on with the Queen Hera, power the magnetic cannons," Cain ordered, seeing one special console activate at her personal authorization.

The power generators of the Pegasus kicked it up a knotch as the four magnetic cannons began to power up simultaneously and her engines and all other systems felt the strain immensely. This was noted by Cain who saw her plotting table/screen slightly blur and flicker once the cannons began to charge.

"Looks like we shouldn't charge all four cannons at once," Colonel Belzen said as the ship began to bring herself to bear and the starboard batteries began to unleash hell into the two old Basestars.

"I noticed," Cain said.

The stack cones took immense punishment as the gunners purposely aimed at non critical points to make sure the power and pure deadly capability of their guns was seen for all to behold. Explosions ripped chunks off of the neglected target ships as the smaller guns targeted smaller freighters and other targets that were maneuvering lazily around the three largest targets. Debris choked the area around where the two former Basestars had been.

"Admiral, all magnetic cannons are charged and firing solutions are in place."

Cain looked at the signature of the once proud old Columbia class Battlestar, now doomed to die at the hands of the deadliest weapon the Colonial Fleet had ever built, she felt a small pang of sorrow for the old ship. It was a Battlestar, a member of a very prestigious class of ships that had saved Humanity. But now, she had one last duty to the Colonies. And Cain felt that if the ship had a soul, as all ships seem to have, it would be facing this last moment with pride.

"Fire."

Two lances of what looked to be beams of white light streaked from the bow of the Pegasus, a great shaking shudder was felt by all on board. The beams that were in fact tungsten steel darts the size of Vipers tore forward through space right at the unfortunate Battlestar. All who watched watched in horror and joy as the impacts created a strange phenomenon where the hull of the Battlestar seemed to cave in and shudder, sending out a massive shock waves the reverberated through the entire ship, popping loose the rivets and welds of her armor plates, breaking the ship's spine and sending decompressions throughout the ship. Her engines struggled to stay lit as the damaged reactors leaked and prepared to overload. Tylium lines ruptured, sending explosions through the inner workings of the old Battlestar. Pieces of the hull ripped apart as explosions tore through the ten foot wide holes in the mangled bow. If this ship were crewed only those in the flight pods would have been saved, as one of the pods ripped away as a pair of explosions tore apart the mechanism that allowed the old Queen Hera to retract her pods, effectively severing the whole apparatus. Then, to seal the ship's fate, the Pegasus emptied her last two cannons and sent them right into the reactors. With a similar but far more deadly pair of strikes the ship buckled and bent, this time, not recovering her former shape. Her engines sputtered and died, and the Battlestar began to spin. But before it completed one lazy rotation the entire ship blew apart, its reactor finally overloading and sending bits and pieces in all directions. The Pegasus had to bank hard to starboard to avoid colliding with the mangled flaming bow of the Queen Hera as the wreckage spread.

"We've got ourselves a ship Colonel," Cain said, quite pleased with herself and her crew.

"Yes sir, that we do. Can't wait until Earth gets a load of this."

USS Odyssey, cloaked above the Pegasus near Choros

"Looks like the Colonials have got themselves some upgrades," the XO of the ship whistled, seeing the clouds of wreckage and fire spreading forth from the site of the interesting trial run of the Battlestar Pegasus.

"Yeah they do, question I have is it a threat?" the commander of the ship growled.

"I don't know sir, we'll have to get this sensor data back to Earth for analysis before being able to judge its threat level."

"Make it so, command needs to know about this. If I were to bet, I'd say that this demonstration has a lot to do with us showing up."

"Yes sir I would agree."

"Helm, bring us about, set a course for the far side of the planet and take us into hyperspace."

The Odyssey heeled over, igniting her sublight engines and moved off, keeping clear of the Colonial fleet that was now a buzzing mess of radio chatter. All of which, the Odyssey was recording.

Kobol, two hundred yards from Colonial Base Camp

"Colonel Black, this is Base Camp," the wireless sputtered in the Colonial CO's ear.

"Black here, go 'head."

"Sir, be advised scouts have discovered signs of recent activity, boot prints of unknown origins."

"We've found the same thing here. Keep your eyes open for any sign of hostile activity," Colonel Black responded, turning back to what he was looking at, a large stone door with a great many boot prints scattered around it.

"Yes sir, Base Camp out."

"What do you make of it Sergeant?"

"Well sir, it uh…it's definitely man made, I'm no scholar but I'd say this might be the Tomb of Athena," the young woman in question responded as she examined the large stone slab.

"Can we open it?" the Colonel asked.

"If I had some explosives, which I do, and permission to use them yes sir."

"Well those are out of the question until a science team is dispatched from Command and determines no harm will be done," the Colonel stated, deflating the young Sergeant.

As they all waited and watched a snap of a twig off in the distance sent the Colonial team into overdrive paranoia mode.

"What was that?"

"Section Two spread out and move to investigate," Colonel Black ordered, getting a nod from the Lieutenant in charge of the seven man element, "Base Camp be advised potential activity two hundred meters to Squad One's front."

"Copy that."

The group of seven troops carefully negotiated the steep hill that the "Tomb" was dug out of, and where they'd heard the twig snap. The eight men and women of Section One covering them were looking attentively through their scopes looking for anything and everything. Each of them was feeling their breath begin to quicken as their already rapidly beating hearts began to kick into a new gear. The first of the Section Two unit reached the crest of the hill, swiping her rifle back and forth, clearing the immediate area. But then, on another quick examination, she yelled seeing a flash of movement and a single human face off in the distance moving away rapidly.

"Hey freeze!"

"Shit," Colonel Black growled, and launched into action and ran towards the hill as Section Two ceased all manner of caution and scrambled up the slippery wet slope. The young Corporal who had started the whole thing hesitated and then disappeared forward out of sight.

"This is Corporal Deen, in pursuit of unknown bogey," the woman said over the radio as more and more of Section Two ran up over the crest in pursuit.

"Do not engage, close with and identify. Do not fire I repeat do not fire!" Black ordered tersely as he scrambled up a path using every rock and every root as a hand hold and a foot hold.

"Yes sir," the Colonial replied.

The young Colonial sprinted forward, keeping one hand on her rifle and the other out in front of her trying to keep from tripping or having a branch smack her in the face. She quickly left the rest of her Section behind, due to her own speed and quickness and her head start. But she was able to close with what she now saw were several bogeys. They wore a dark green patterned camouflage uniform and were themselves desperately trying to evade them. But this Corporal was not to be evaded. She managed to close to less than thirty yards before the terrain seemed to drop off into a gully or ravine.

"Corporal Deen, status?" her wireless called out, it was her Lieutenant.

"Still in pursuit sir," she said, "Permission to engage with nonlethal stingers."

She wrapped her finger around the trigger of her stun weapon that was specifically attached to her weapon for this situation.

"Permission granted, if bogeys refuse to stop sting 'em and wait for back-up."

"Copy that," the Corporal looked behind her, saw the shapes of her squad mates closing, but were still at least thirty meters away. Does she pursue? Does she wait for backup and play it safe? She was on an alien planet, playing it safe went out the window a while ago, "Frak it."

She turned around after signaling her compatriots where she was headed so they could follow, set her rifle to safe, and moved forward. She sighted in on the movement of one of the bogeys she'd been keeping up with and moved forward into the gully she saw him or her duck into. The Colonial saw the curve of the gully and made an all or nothing gamble. Pushing off on her heel she jinked to the right and took a pursuit angle that she hoped would put her right over the bogey and give her a position she needed to force them to identify themselves without risking a fight. She sprinted forward, and pulled her rifle to her shoulder, took her finger off the trigger and put her hand over the stinger on the end of her rifle and prepared to aim down into a hopefully surprised and surrendered quartet of human faces. With a smile she saw small traces of what looked like green camouflaged helmets and prepared herself.

"Hands up!" she screamed as she came to the edge of the gully and right over three very surprised and heavily armed soldiers. She grinned in triumph as they stood there quite bewildered that she had caught up with them, "Gotcha fra…"

Suddenly she felt herself get the wind knocked out of her as a sudden and powerful blow collided with her from the side. She was thrown forward, rolling to the ground then fell right into the six foot deep gully with an equally sized woman holding her down. The Colonial instinctively threw a right hook that connected with her attacker's helmet and threw her back enough for her to attempt to grab her own pistol.

"No ya don't blighta!" the attacker said as she realized what the Colonial was reaching for.

But before that happened her collar was yanked up and then a powerful punch to her nose broke it, shooting pain right to her brain. But her trained and tested Marine mind took this in stride and blocked the next punch aimed for her head and reached up and tried to grab and pull the back of her attacker's neck and yanked her down as they tried to scramble on the ground and a better position.

"Grab her!" the woman snapped, and the Colonial remembered the three men she had had on the end of her rifle.

But when the Colonial got herself over her attacker she felt an arm wrap around her neck and a hand clasp her nose and mouth. She felt herself being asphyxiated into unconsciousness rapidly. This type of move was something only trained special operations troops like her really knew and used, and these guys were doing to it to her! Blood poured down the gloved hands as she kicked and struggled to get loose. She tried to scream as she heard shouts from her own comrades calling out on the wireless as she tried to key her radio. But darkness was closing in fast, and this person had a perfect hold on her. Her helmet nudged free and fell off and rolled and she saw her cracked helmet cam aiming right at her.

As her eyes rolled back she heard the attackers begin to hiss openly once the Colonial was unconscious. The man who'd neutralised her made sure she was still alive before he noticed that she was bleeding profusely.

"I think you broke her nose sarge!" one of the men said, examining the amount of blood now on his gloves.

"Bloody hell! What now, this sheila's seen us!" another said, realizing the lose-lose situation that this Colonial had put them in.

"Shit, her buddies are closing in, we need out of here!" the woman hissed, looking up and seeing the black uniforms of the rest of the Colonial squad cresting the ridge.

"Do we take her with us? Orders are that we…"

"I know what our bloody orders are! Call for extraction, we need out of here five minutes ago!"

"Aquila! Aquila! This is Gamma Tango One, we need emergency extract! I repeat emergency extract!"

"All this because you went and snapped a twig!"

"Oh rack off you bloody twit!"

"Shut it!"

The Colonials ran towards where they'd seen their comrade charge after the potential bogeys and saw a dull flash of light off to their right, sensing something had happened they moved carefully. With weapons raised they moved forward with the knowledge that their squad mate might have been in danger. But when the forward five Colonial reached the little gulley, they were stunned. There was nothing there but a single dirty helmet, and a lot of disturbed ground.

"What the…" one of the Colonials grumbled, seeing nothing he had expected to see.

"Is that Deen's helmet?"

One of the Colonials carefully slid down into the ditch and reached down to carefully pick up the fallen helmet. He brushed aside the dirt and looked on the inside of it for the name and service number of its wearer, "Yes sir, it's hers. B-but where is she?"

"The camera will tell us, if it's not damaged that is."

"Colonel's going to be pissed…"

"Pipe down," the Lieutenant snapped, turning away to put his hand to his wireless, "Corporal Deen report. Corporal Deen respond!"

But there was nothing but silence over their own channel.

"Frak!" one of the men hissed.

"Colonel, this is Lieutenant Hewl, we found Corporal Deen's helmet, but no sign of her or the bogeys."

The wireless had been quite busy at that point with calls of alert and advisements as to the current situation. When that single statement went out over the radio everything went silent.

"Repeat your last Lieutenant."

"We have located Corporal Deen's helmet, no sign of her or any sign of the bogeys and she is not responding to calls over wireless."

"Begin a search pattern, Squad Five move to assist at Squad One's position. Base Camp will begin broadcasting on an open channel try to reach Corporal Deen. All units be advised, we may have a hostile situation on our hands."

USS Enterprise, in orbit over Terra Nova

The massive bulk of the USS Enterprise hovered gently in space with six Battlecruisers in close attendance. These brand new Battlecruisers had been shuttled by a skeleton crew to Terra Nova to take on a squadron of Banshees and the now required two Ghosts for stealth and planetary operations. The Enterprise herself was still in the process of taking on her own fighter compliment and had yet to even start taking on a compliment of scouts and gunships. Her construction was completely finished, with her sensors, targeting systems, engines, and control protocols now firmly tuned and ready for use. A slight delay due to one of her primary sublight engines having a faulty control mechanism had delayed her being fully completed but due to the importance of this ship the fault was corrected immediately.

But now she was in the painfully slow process of taking on her new crew compliment of over seven hundred. To crew her, the Enterprise had superseded the quota for a trio of Battlecruisers and the crew meant for these three new American crewed Battlecruisers had to be quickly retrained for service on his much larger and more complex ship. Supplies were taking a much longer time to stock than they had been anticipated, ammunition had all but drained the stockpiles on Terra Nova, and the three hundred Banshees meant for the goliath were having to be shuttled by less than a thirty pilots as the pilots for the Enterprise had yet to arrive through the Stargate from Area 51.

But on the bright side of things, those same three Battlecruisers that now found themselves without crews could be handed over to some of the other nations who'd been training their own crews for Battlecruisers, Battleships, and Carriers. Their new compliments were from France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Poland. All of them still found themselves in awe of the monstrosity they knew the Americans now used.

"So Carter, how goes the crewing, supplying, and whatever else-ing that the Enterprise needs to get moving?" O'Neill asked as he walked alongside Carter on the bridge as the bridge crew bustled about doing their jobs.

"Well sir, it hasn't been easy or simple, our production facilities are pretty stretched right now. We're still working out the kinks in the operating systems. But thankfully, we had enough Banshees and Ghosts built to fully equip the Enterprise. And the protocols are being transferred to the small production facility on board for the sake of the ship's own ability to replace losses."

"So good I guess?"

"Slow sir, but moving along steadily."

Then a man walked up behind the two officers with a paper in hand, "Generals, we just received word from one of our listening posts. You may want to take a look at this."

He handed the paper over, and General O'Neill took it and read it then reread it, "Carter, you may want to hurry up with the outfitting. Looks like a Lucian fleet is starting to gather near the old Tollan homeworld."

"A Lucian fleet? Any report on the size?"

"Estimates are about thirty ships, with some leaving but more coming to replace them every hour."

"Well if they come anywhere near Earth our own ships will be able to rip them apart. And the Lucians know exactly what our ships can do and they've never even seen one of our capital ships."

"The Alaska Battlegroup has been dispatched to the Pegasus galaxy, and the British Battlegroup isn't at full readiness. They're taking on new crews for training purposes for a joint operation in our own system. And the Russians are off on an exploratory mission effectively out of range. The only ships we have available are the Odyssey, Apollo, Aquila, and those six new foreign Battlecruisers, and the Enterprise."

"Are you thinking they'll make a move towards Earth or here sir?" Carter asked.

"I don't know Carter, but you don't gather more than thirty ships for a friendly barbecue," O'Neill said, "We need to be ready to head off any move they make that threatens our interests or our allies."

"Understood sir."

"Once the Enterprise is fully loaded I want her to rendezvous over the Tollan homeworld with those ships that are ready for action and clear it of all advanced technology. I don't want the Lucians to get their grubby little mits on any of that stuff," O'Neill ordered.

"We'll have the ship ready sir."

O'Neill walked off to the back of the room to the communications stations and relayed those orders to the six other Battlecruisers in the formation to make the jump to the Tollan homeworld and then got on the long range communications to the Odyssey and the Apollo who were on babysitting duty with the Colonials and the Aquila which was assisting with the research mission on Kobol. These orders were of an importance that superseded all other previously assigned tasks and each ship was obligated to comply immediately.

Little did he know that this Lucian gathering might just come back to haunt them.

**Alright and done. Sorry for the wait as I have been busy, then sick, then depressed(My Aggies lost yesterday.) so this chapter has faced every kind of setback imaginable. But hey, it's up now, so be happy! Just kidding, I'm really glad that you guys have been patient with me and have had to deal with a cliff hanger for two weeks. But unfortunately you'll have to probably live with another one in the form of the Kobol Situation turned Kobol Incident. While on that note I shall tell you guys this now, I am not dropping the idiot ball into anyone's hands here, more like dropping the wrong-place-wrong-time-turned-bad-situation-type ball on both sides. You know the old saying, shit happens. Well that is true especially in this fic. And besides, if shit didn't happen it wouldn't be much of a story now would it?**

**Next Chapter Preview: Starbuck plays a little dirty, the Lucians show their hand, and Colonel Mitchell and Colonel Black get pissed off.**


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